


Duelists of the Elemental Spirits

by orphan_account



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, everyone is out-of-character, posting for archival purposes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 09:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18028820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sequel to Cat of the Lilac Eyes (which is the sequel to Dragon of the Shadowed Light). Takes place 10 years later and is crossed with YGO!GX. Being a teenager has always been hard, but for the Larks it's harder. Between taming new powers, fighting bad guys with cards, and attempting to prank everyone in sight, how will they come together to defeat the threat before them?||Reposted from fanfiction.net as I clear out old fics from my account there. Originally posted February 5, 2006 and completed May 16, 2006.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Domino City Pranksters

Many residents in Domino City prepare for festivities for the night when the main part of the Larks, as the children call themselves, are suppose to leave for Duelist Academy. Why, you may ask? Merely because the main part of the Larks are the biggest troublemakers that Domino City has ever seen. Yes, even bigger than the Destructive Trio, aka Yume, Bakura, and Marik. Of course, nobody has any proof that it's them, purely because there is no evidence.

The teens that are going to Duelist Academy are as follows:

Amane Bakura, the oldest daughter of Ryou and Tama Bakura. She is 15-years-old and has her father's pure, snowy white hair and her mother's lilac eyes. She recently spent some time in England with her father's side of the family, and because of this her British accent is more pronounced than usual. She's typically seen wearing some sort of turtleneck shirt and baggy jeans with something tied around her waist. Amane is also never seen without her Duel Monsters deck, which she keeps strapped around her waist in some way. She's one of the ones who come up with zany ideas that generally work although they sound like they never would. It's her gift.

Yasu Khalid, oldest child of Bakura and Yume Khalid. She's 16-years-old and has white hair with highlights and violet eyes. She usually wears her hair up in a ponytail and always has a pair of earrings in. She'll wear just about anything as long as it's comfortable and not too revealing. She seems to favor skirts though, particularly those in the color blue. Yasu keeps her Duel Monster deck in a case that she wears on her left arm just below her elbow. She's one of the more logical in the group, always there to strike down any of the ideas that are too ridiculous.

Ammon Khalid is the oldest boy child of Bakura and Yume. He's 15-years-old, the same age as Amane. He has dark red hair with white highlights, basically the opposite of his sister, and mahogany eyes like his father. He typically wears some dark colored t-shirt and jeans. He keeps his deck in a case in his back pocket with a chain attached to it, much like most boys do with their wallets. Ammon is the cunning, sneaky one of the group who can string together the best 'tall-tale' that you've ever heard. Because of this, the group leaves coming up with an excuse to him, knowing he can get them out of almost anything. He's the reason they never get in really bad trouble.

Moving on to Suma Muto, who is, of course, Yami and Yugi's 16-year-old daughter and only child. She has her father's black and red hair and infamous goldenrod yellow lightning bolt shaped bangs. Her eyes are amethyst like Yugi's. She usually wears something bright and eye-catching yet somewhat stylish clothes. Her favorite outfit consists of a somewhat country look; a t-shirt with a flannel shirt or vest and jeans and boots. Sometimes she'll wear a cowboy hat that her "Uncle Damian" sent to her for her birthday. Like Amane, Suma's Duel Monsters deck is strapped to her waist. In the Larks, Suma is the so-called 'innocent one' who everybody trusts. She can worm her way out of anything and talk someone into doing something without them catching on to it. She has perfected the use of the puppy-dog eyes and hers is very potent and deadly.

Zahur Ishtar is Malik and Ashling's oldest son, albeit just by a few minutes. He's 14-years-old and has blonde hair and blue eyes. He also wears glasses. He typically wears a nice collared shirt of some non-bright color (unless it's white) and blue jeans of varying shades. He keeps his Duel Monsters deck strapped to his waist, as it's easier to get to it when it's needed. In the Larks, he's the brilliant strategist who makes sure each plan is well thought out and that there's always one or two back-up plans.

Liam Ishtar is the younger twin. He's 14-years-old, of course, and has his mother's strawberry blonde hair and his father's lilac eyes. Liam is basically the opposite of his brother in personality. He's smart, yes, just not as smart. He usually wears a t-shirt with some strange phrase or another on it and some sort of jeans. Like Zahur, he keeps his deck strapped to his waist. In the group, Liam's one of the three who can perform almost any stunt and, despite his height, manages to escape using even the smallest tunnels or paths. He's also come up with some of the more outrageous pranks in the past.

Ryan Ishtar is the son of Mariku and Holly Ishtar, and is Zahur and Liam's cousin. Like his cousins, he is 14-years-old. He has brown hair with blonde highlights and it spikes up in the I-stuck-my-finger-in-an-electric-socket fashion just like his father's. He also has brown eyes with hints of lilac. He has a rather wild personality and it shows in his… "unique" style. You never know what he'll wear, although he's never worn girls clothing. (Thank Ra) He's copied Ammon's way of keeping his deck safe; the deck carefully kept in his back pocket in a hardcover case with a chain attaching the case to his pants. In the Larks, Ryan is the flamboyant one who usually needs to be dug out of trouble by the others. He doesn't get caught exactly, he just… has "quiet" issues. Basically, he never knows when to be quiet or what an "appropriate conversation" is.

Chizu Kaiba is the daughter of Seto and Serenity Kaiba. She has long black hair like her uncle and her father's ocean blue eyes. She's the youngest of the main group and is 13-years-old. Like Yasu, she'll wear anything as long as it's comfortable and not too revealing. She prefers to wear jeans, though, since they're the easiest to run around in. Strangely, she acts more like her Uncle Mokuba than her mom and dad. She's always willing to help someone out and can come up with hilarious jokes to pull. Chizu's the second best strategist, and if there's anything Zahur misses when they're going over plans, it's her who picks up on them.

Last we have both Jono and Seth Wheeler, just two of the Wheeler triplets. They are, quite obviously, Joey and Mai's kids. Jono looks just like his father with his messy blond hair and brown eyes while Seth has slightly wavy brown hair and violet eyes. Both of them are 15-years-old. The two always wear clothing that matches in some way. Whether it's t-shirts with strange and random quotes on them or just plain colored shirts and jeans. In the Larks, the two are the ones who can confuse the heck out of people and distract them. They can also pull off some really cool stunts for pranks and are exceptionally good at skateboarding.

So there you have it. That's the entire group that's going to Duel Academy. The reason? I currently cannot give out that information, however, you shall learn why as the story progresses. And so it begins…


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: To Duelist Academy_

The day of departure soon arrives for the main part of the Larks. On the correct day they all meet at the Kaiba mansion, as that's where the Blue Eyes jet is awaiting them. Yes, Seto still has the infamous jet that tells all about his strange obsession. Of course, it was Chizu and Mokuba who talked him into taking them to the academy in it, so Seto really can't be blamed for this one.

Soon they've all boarded the jet. Seto is in the pilot's seat with Mokuba beside him in the co-pilots seat. All the kids are sitting behind them sitting in pairs. Chizu and Ryan are in one seat with Liam and Zahur across from them. Behind Chizu and Ryan are Jono and Ammon and across from those two are Seth and Yasu. Behind Seth and Yasu are Amane and Suma.

Seth grins and looks over at his brother after they take off. "This is going-"

"-to be the best ever!" Jono easily finishes, also with a grin.

"Will you two please knock it off?" Yasu asks in an irritated tone. "You two have been doing that ever since Maiko went off with your mom to investigate something and it's really gotten so old and so annoying so fast."

"You used-" Jono starts.

"-too many-"

"-big words." They finish in unison.

Yasu groans while everyone else laughs, with the exception of Zahur who shakes his head in amusement and turns to the next page in his book.

"So, which word is it that is too big for you?" Zahur asks, marking his page when he comes to the next paragraph. "'Knock', 'old', 'annoying', or 'so'?" He and the others already know what the answer will be.

And sure enough- "So!" The two boys say in unison before laughing and giving one another a high-five.

Up in the pilot's seat Seto grumbles something about them being 'a bunch of immature brats' and 'glad no one in my family is like them'. The second statement prompts Mokuba to take the microphone for the loudspeaker.

"Hello everyone, this is your co-pilot Mokuba Kaiba speaking! I'd just like to remind you all that no flying projectiles are allowed on the jet and that you are to keep your arms, legs, heads, hands, and every other body part inside the aircraft at all times. Thank you and have a nice flight to Duelist Academy!"

Seto groans and would bury his head into his hands if he were THE Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporations.  _'It's going to be a **long** flight.'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Wow…" Suma murmurs in awe, looking down at the island.  _'This is amazing! Aunt Tama, Uncle Seto, and Uncle Mokuba did an awesome job on this place. So cool!'_

Beside her, Amane echoes her thoughts. "Amazing… momma, Uncle Seto, and Uncle Mokuba did an awesome job." She looks up at everyone else and discovers Seth is sleeping. Grinning, the white-haired girl kicks his seat, jolting the poor brunette back into reality. "Wakey, wakey, little priest."

Seth falls from his seat with a cry and lands heavily on the ground. "Oww…" He moans. "Void, what was that for!"

"Look out the window, priest." Yasu says.

Seth scowls. "Stop calling me that, Aqua." Non-the-less, he looks out the window and nearly gasps when he sees the academy. "This is where we're gonna be staying? Awesome."

"Will you be quiet back there." Seto snaps from up front. "I'm trying to concentrate on an important call and you all are not helping."

The ten kids go silent, allowing the quiet Seto needs to complete his call. By the time he hangs up they have landed. They file out under Mokuba's guide, almost surprised to see a crowd gathered around the jet. But then again, it's not every day that Seto and Mokuba Kaiba visit Duelist Academy in their Blue Eyes jet with ten kids.

Mokuba steps up beside his niece with a grin on his face. "So, what do you guys think? Impressive?"

"Very." Suma agrees, still looking around curiously.

Seto now steps off the jet and looks around in disinterest, having seen the academy countless numbers of times.

All of this has attracted not only students, but teachers as well. As such, it's only a matter of time before-

"Mr. Kaiba! Young Mr. Kaiba! What brings you to this fine, fine establishment?"

-HE arrives.

Jono gives Dr. Crowler an odd look before leaning over to Chizu and whispering, "Seer, why does your dad keep him on the staff?"

"Because he amuses me and Uncle Mokuba." Chizu replies with a grin that's nearly identical to her uncle's. "Dad could care less about him, Mom really doesn't like him, and he annoys the crap out of Yukio."

"He annoys me too." Jono grumbles. "Does he get dressed in the dark or is he on something he shouldn't be on?"

Seth smirks, easily overhearing the conversation since he's right beside his brother. "Probably both."

Ammon elbows the closest Wheeler boy and whispers, "Stop snickering and pay attention!" He glances over at his sister before continuing. "Although I  _really_ don't blame you. What planet is he fr- OW! Yasu!"

"I told you to tell them to stop talking and pay attention!" The oldest Khalid child hisses. "Not for you to start chatting with them! Besides, the last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves!"

Zahur snorts and Liam snickers, as their attention has turned from Dr. Crowler's senseless rambling to the much more interesting conversation going on behind them.

"Yes, because we haven't done that already, have we?" Ryan loudly teases.

The chatting teens are silenced by a single glare from Seto and then all of them are separated from Seto and Mokuba and are led to the dueling arena by Dr. Crowler. The large crowd that is steadily growing bigger follows them, all of them curious about the late newcomers.

As they're walking to the main building, Dr. Crowler explains that they will be sorted into one of the three dorms by the results of two tests- a written exam and a duel against a randomly chosen student. Then he goes on about how Obelisk Blue is the best and how Slifer Red's are a bunch of slackers. There's no mention of the Ra Yellow's.

The group of young duelists tune out the professor, already knowing about how things work at Duel Academy. Each of their parents have drilled it into their heads by now.

They take the written portion first. Suma, Amane, and Seth all appearing to struggle on it while Chizu and Zahur are the only two to easily breeze through it, finishing a good fifteen minutes before everyone else. Yasu is the third to finish and is shortly followed by Liam, Jono, Ryan, and Ammon. Suma, Seth, and Amane are the last to finish.

Now they move on to the duels. Amane is the first.

"Amane Bakura, you're first." Dr. Crowler announces.

Amane grins at her friends and gives a peace sign before jogging over to the duel arena to go against the assigned Ra Yellow standing opposite of her.

Among the people watching the duel from the stands are Alexis, Zane, Bastian, Jaden, Syrus, Chumley, Chazz and his cronies, and Professor Banner and his cat Pharaoh.

Back to the duel…

Amane takes her spot and activates her duel disc as she slips her deck out of the case that's strapped onto her waist. Her duel disc is one that is specially made and was a birthday gift from her Uncle Seto, Uncle Mokuba, and her mom. It has a typical white base, but it has pale lilac and silver colored designs and hieroglyphics on it.

"Ladies first." The Ra Yellow says politely.

Amane continues grinning as she draws her cards. "Aren't you sweet." She says in her light British accent. "Lets go. First I summon Amazoness Fighter in defense mode and put two cards face down! Your turn." She finishes sweetly.

Over with the rest of the Larks that are at the academy, Yasu sighs and closes her eyes. "She's got a good hand obviously. She'll easily wrap it up in under ten minutes."

"That won't affect her chances, will it?" Seth questions, his gaze flickering between Amane and Yasu.

Zahur shakes hi head 'no'. "And just in case it does, Liam can be quite persuading. Much more than myself at least."

"This," Chizu comments, her blue eyes shining with excitement as she leans forward in her seat. "is going to be a  _very_ interesting year."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Amane wins her duel in, as Yasu had said, ten minutes. Liam is after and then it's Ryan's turn. After Ryan, Zahur duels against some second year Obelisk Blue and wins in less than fifteen minutes. Ammon goes next and is soon followed by his sister. Then it's Suma's turn.

"Suma Muto."

And of course the 16-year-old's name just has to get a large reaction from basically everyone in the stands who recognize her last name. After all, one of her parents is THE Yugi Muto, the King of Games.

Just for the purposes of showing off, having fun, and annoying the hell out of Yasu, she places her hands on the edge of the arena and uses all of her strength to do a flip onto the arena.

"Show off!" Liam yells jokingly.

"You're no worse!" Suma replies, activating her duel disc. Hers has a red base with golden hieroglyphics on it. "Now, let's duel!" She says, drawing her cards.

With the life points set to 4000, the duel begins with the third year Slifer Red going first. Suma grins when it's her turn.

"This should be fun…" She murmurs. "First off, I'm going to summon Kuriboh in defense and then I'm going to use the spell card 'Multiply'. Say hello to my Kuriboh Brothers!" She grins. "They may look weak, but they're three of my best monsters! Isn't that right, boys?"

"Kuriii!" The trio of Kuriboh chirp in unison.

"Kuri 'Kura." Ryan snickers, only to be immediately smacked in the head by Yasu.

"I put one card face down and end my turn."

Two turns later Suma summons her Dark Magician Girl to the field, bringing her number of magicians up to two. Already on her side of the field is the Silent Magician.

It's fairly obvious that Suma wins her duel, so lets just move on. Besides, the next duel is quite a bit more interesting.

"Chizu Shirozaki."

"Well that explains why you didn't go before those two." Jono comments. "Have fun kicking butt, Seer."

Chizu gives a short nod. "I will."

Poor Chizu gets paired up with a first year Slifer Red student. Just by seeing his first two moves she grumbles something about putting him out of his misery quickly.

On her first turn she gets her trap cards set up and uses the special effect of one of her monsters- The Dragon Guardian. The special ability of this monster allows her to summon her in defense mode on her first turn.

The Dragon Guardian unsurprisingly looks like Yume and Tama. Pegasus gave the Guardian dark red hair with a single black lightning bolt shaped bang and amethyst eyes. She wears black, Egyptian-style clothing and has a short and shield.

By her third turn she has her Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field as well as the Dragon Guardian and the Slifer's life points are down to 2000.

On her fourth turn she draws a card she didn't even know she had in her deck and has to summon and then sacrifice a monster to summon it. Everyone stares in awe as the magnificent Blue-Eyes White Dragon appears in a burst of white light and roars. The duel ends on this turn, leaving a shocked audience. Chizu silently deactivates her duel dic and rejoins her friends.

"And you guys say me and Ryan show off." Suma tells her. "You've got nothing on us, Ryuuzuka." (1)

Now the only two left are the two Wheeler boys, Jono and Seth. Jono easily beats a Slifer while Seth struggles against an Obelisk. They both win, of course.

Now that that's over with, they're finally assigned to a dorm and are given their uniforms.

Chizu and Zahur are the only Obelisks of the group. Yasu, Ammon, Liam, Ryan, and Jono are in Ra Yellow. Amane, Seth, and, surprisingly, Suma are all Slifer Reds.

"All goes according to plan." Amane comments to Suma and Seth. "You think Liam had to persuade Crowler to put you," She points at Suma. "in Slifer?"

Suma shrugs and unbuttons the ends of her sleeves. "You know, for all the money Uncle Seto spent on this place you would think he'd make the Slifer dorm a little nicer. I am glad we don't have girls uniforms though." She says, changing a subject.

All three of them look at the run-down building.

"This is going to be an interesting year." Seth comments, glancing down at a piece of paper in his hand. "You two are lucky that you get to room together. Apparently I've got three other roommates."

Amane pats Seth on the back in a comforting gesture. "You're welcome to join us anytime, Seth. Right, Suma?"

Suma nods in agreement. "That's right! We wouldn't dream of ditching you, dear Slifer Red buddy. You're stuck with us now for all eternity!"

Seth groans as if in great pain and theatrically places the back of his hand to his forehead, mustering up his most pitiful voice to say, "Oh woe is me! To be stuck with the most dangerous of the Larks girls. I feel faint!"

Suma and Amane catch him when he pretends to faint. He soon stands up and they walk to the dorm cheerfully chatting and laughing.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Must it all be yellow?" Jono complains, looking at the building he'll be staying in. "Yellow looks horrible on me! It clashes with my hair!"

"No, it matches your hair." Yasu corrects with a sigh.

"Same difference!" Jono retorts.

Yasu continues on as if she doesn't hear him. "And get used to the yellow. We're going to be here for a year."

The two stop and look around when nobody makes any comments.

Yasu turns to face Jono when she can't find Liam, Ryan, or Ammon. "Alright, where'd my brother and the crazy blondes run off to?"

Jono shrugs. "For once I have no idea, Aqua. Lets just hope it has nothing to do with rocket powered  _anything_."

Yasu snorts. "Yeah, really. The last thing we need is to get in trouble in the first few hours."

"And we'd all get in trouble because we Larks stick together." Jono quotes, hiding a grin.

Yasu gives Jono a look. "You want to be with them, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Jono exclaims, waving his arms wildly. He gives Yasu a "are-you-kidding-of-course-I-want-to-be-with-them-causing-mayhem" look. "They're out there having all this fun without me and that's completely unfair!"

Yasu rolls her eyes and walks past Jono, who has stopped in the middle of the path. "One of you needs to know where the dorm is and apparently it's going to be you. You know how turned around and lost Ryan gets without guidance."

Jono grumbles something under his breath and then jogs to catch up with Yasu. After a few minutes of silence, in which Jono quickly becomes bored, the blonde boy chooses a new subject. "I don't see how you and Chizu can wear the girls uniforms. Now that's I'm complaining…"

"We have shorts under ours." Yasu replies shortly, not liking where the conversation is going.

"Oh." Jono smartly remains silent the rest of the way to the dorm.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chizu happily hums the "Larks Theme Song", which was made up the year before by her, Mokuba, Liam, Jono, Amane, and some of the younger Larks. Zahur walks alongside of her, reading the same book he's been reading since the time he got on the jet. He doesn't even pause in his step when he turns a page or pushes his glasses back up on his nose.

Chizu eventually stops humming and sighs heavily. "Hey, Zahur?"

"Yes?" Zahur responds, turning another page.

"I'm bored." The younger replies, using one of her more pitiful voices.

Zahur momentarily looks up from his book to give the raven haired girl a calculating look. "Then find something to do. You're very good at that."

Chizu sighs. "But I promised Amane and Suma that I wouldn't cause any trouble within the first few hours. At least, not without them."

Zahur now sighs and marks the place in his book and then closes it. "So what do you suggest we do to cure you of your boredom?" He asks, blue eyes shining mischievously.

Chizu grins. "I'm sure I can think of a few things. There's this one idea I have that needs some editing if it's going to work."

"Alright, lets hear it." Zahur says.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Thirty-four year old Ashling Ishtar watches her eleven year old daughter and nine year old son play together in the backyard. She sighs heavily and turns her head away, upset with some of the things that have been happening lately.

She's known it would come eventually, but couldn't help but hope it wouldn't. Despite how young she is, Ophelia is already showing signs of being the next "Neko Tenshi" (2). This is a rare feat as there's only one per one hundred years.

Her son, Salim, on the other hand has been showing signs of having the power of 'light'. Since he was young he's been terrified of the dark has to have some sort of light at all times. He also loves the sun and can't stand being inside on a sunny day.

Outside Ophelia laughs loudly as Salim sprays her with the hose that he's suppose to be using to water the plants.

Ophelia looks just like her father with her shoulder length sandy blonde hair and lilac eyes. She's currently wearing a knee-length green and white skirt and a green spaghetti strap shirt. She's also wearing a pair of forest green gardening gloves since her current duty is to clip off any dead or diseased branches.

Salim has black hair found in the Ishtar line and stormy blue eyes like his mom used to have. Like Zahur, he wears glasses since he's near-sighted. He's wearing jeans and an old faded navy blue t-shirt.

"Salim, stop!" Ophelia shrieks, dropping the hand shears onto the ground. She raises her hands up to her face to protect her eyes from the water.

Salim laughs and directs the stream of water back to the plants. Seconds later he's tackled to the ground. The two siblings laugh and rolls around in the wet grass, their duties completely forgotten.

Back inside Ashling sighs sadly.  _'If only it could always be like this; peaceful and somewhat ordinary. But then,'_ She glances back out the window.  _'what has happened and what's going on are normal. Anything else and it'd be abnormal.'_


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: Problems with Dogs_

Mokuba sings along with the rock music playing in his car. (Ashling and Tama were the ones to introduce him to it.) He tiredly scans the road ahead, watching out for people, pets, and objects that might be in the way.

Yawning loudly, Mokuba takes his eyes off the road for a second to glance at the clock.  _'Three in the evening… I hate jetlag.'_ He thinks as he returns his attention back to the road. Mokuba lets out an explosive round of cursing when he sees a small dog run out in front of him and he immediately slams on the brakes. The small car screeches to a halt and Mokuba shakily turns it off and unbuckles his seatbelt before getting out of the car to make sure he didn't actually hit the poor creature.

"Emma!" A young woman yells, dashing out into the road, her short dark brown hair flying out behind her. She gasps in relief when Mokuba pulls her Dachshund out from under his car unharmed.

Looking around, Mokuba notices her and gives her a small smile. "Is this your dog?" At her nod he walks over to her and hands the small animal to her. "I'm really sorry that I almost hit your dog. I'm afraid I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have been."

"It's… fine." She mumbles, stroking the top of the dogs head and then kissing it there. "Thank you for your concern."

The two stand there in an awkward silence for a moment, neither of them sure what to say.

"Well, goodbye." The girl finally says, turning to go back to her house.

"Wait!" Mokuba yells, which causes the girl to turn around and look at him with a slightly frustrated look on her face. "What's your name?" He quickly asks.

"Rose. Rose Davis." She replies after a moment. "And yours?"

"K- Mokuba Kaiba." He responds, almost saying his last name first like he's used to.

Rose inclines her head slightly. "Well, it was nice chatting with you, Mr. Kaiba, but I must be going now." She turns and walks back to her house, pausing by the door to pat a two-year-old girl on the head before shutting the door.

Mokuba goes back to his car, his mind reeling from what's happened already.  _'She was pretty… but the kid, she has to be hers. So she's most likely married…'_  He sighs heavily. ' _Of all the shit to happen I just had to go and develop some crush on a girl who's dog I ran over. Real brilliant, Mokuba.'_

He opens his car door and gets back in, making sure to buckle up before starting the car.

/She wasn't wearing a wedding ring, you know./ A sly voice speaks up in the back of his mind.

' _Then maybe she's engaged.'_ Mokuba tells the voice as he turns down the volume on the radio.

The mysterious voice chuckles. /She wasn't wearing a ring./

Mokuba puts the car into drive and glances around for anything else in the road.  _'Just who the hell are you anyway?'_

/Me? I'm your conscience./

Mokuba groans.  _'So I'm talking to myself.'_

/Well… yup/

' ** _Wonderful_**.' Mokuba thinks sarcastically as he presses down on the gas pedal _. 'After all these years of being around four ex-ancient spirits and their ex-hosts and having all sorts of weird things happen and **now** I go insane.'_

All Mokuba gets in reply is laughter.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Suma and Amane awaken a few mornings later to the sound of someone knocking on their door. Well, Amane wakes up. Suma just kind of mumbles something and rolls over while tugging the covers over her head.

Yawning, the younger of the two slips out of her bed, her bare feet hitting the cold floor. Amane shivers and wraps her arms around herself as she shuffles over to the door. "Who's there?" She asks before even thinking about unlocking the door.

"Soul Lark." Comes the reply. "Open up, Amane."

Amane sighs and unlocks the door and then opens it, revealing Seth standing on the other side with his backpack and sports bag. She immediately groans, knowing exactly what's going on.

"Well, you guys did say that I was welcome to join you anytime and that you wouldn't dream of ditching me." Seth says, with a grin on his face. "I gave you guys the minimum three day waiting period before I took you up on the offer."

Amane hides a yawn behind a hand and steps aside to allow Seth to come in. "Just don't make too much noise. Suma's still asleep." She says warningly.

Seth flinches slightly, recalling the last time someone attempted to wake up the 16-year-old pyromaniac. He quietly steps into the room and Amane shuts the door behind him.

"We'll figure out what to do with the bed situation later." Amane says as she sits down on her bed. "For now, welcome to the Slifer Red girls dorm. Go ahead and make yourself at home.

Seth carefully sets down his bags instead of dropping them like he usually would and then sits down beside Amane. "So this is what the girl's dorm is like, huh? It's in better shape than the boy's dorm. Much better shape." He decides after looking around the room.

"The girls dorm was only added recently with the growing number of female duelists." Amane tells him. She runs her fingers through her hair in a pre-brushing attempt to get rid of some forming tangles.

There's silence in the room for a moment before Suma's alarm clock hits seven o'clock and the alarm goes off, blaring some loud rap music.

Seth and Amane both clap their hands over their ears to drown out the Ra-forsaken noise. They don't have to endure it for too long since before the song hit's the third line of lyrics the alarm clock basically blows up with a less-than-satisfying 'boom!' and then emits sparks and smoke for some time after.

Suma groans and sits up, her tri-colored hair a bushy mess.

"Morning, Pyro." Seth cheerfully greets, happy that the older girl stopped the noise. "Have a nice sleep?"

Suma glares in Seth's direction, her brain not quite in working order yet. She attempts to get up, only to fall fight back down onto her bed.

Seth raises an eyebrow and looks to Amane for information. "Just how late did you guys stay up to have miss happy-go-lucky, hyperactive, pyromaniac completely sated this morning?"

Amane shrugs. "Don't remember. And anyway, all I've got to do is make her a cup of coffee or strong tea and she'll be back to her normal self."

Seth sighs. "But I think I rather like her like this…" He mumbles, causing Amane to laugh.

"Don't be silly, Soul-boy." She says, humor in her voice. "We'd all go insane from sheer boredom if Suma wasn't her normal somewhat hyperactive self."

"Well, that's true." Seth agrees.

"Nnnng… coffee…" Suma mumbles, finally able to stand up. "Need coffee…"

Seth and Amane both sweat drop.

Suma blindly makes her way over to the small area that has been designated as a kitchen of sorts. The 'kitchen' is just a small tiled portion of the room in which there's a small portion of counter, a sink, a mini-fridge, a microwave, and a small cupboard. Suma pulls a bottle of coffee from the mini-fridge and pours some of it into a cup she retrieves from the cupboard. Then she sticks it in the microwave to heat it up. While it's heating up, Suma puts the bottle back in the mini-fridge and then leans against the wall and stares blankly off into space.

"Good morning, Suma!" Seth says cheerfully, deciding to attempt to annoy the oldest Lark.

Suma doesn't even move or make a noise.

"Wonderful day, isn't it? Just perfect for going out and causin' some chaos!" He continues, trying to get a reaction- any reaction- from her.

Amane watches in amazement as Suma actually twitches slightly.

Seth grins. "I heard something from Liam who said Zahur told him that our beloved Seer has come up with an awesome plan to start our year here off with a 'bang!' I'm sure it'll be in a quite literal sense."

The microwave buzzes and Suma moves and takes out the coffee. After the first sip she sighs in relief and sits down at the small table located on the carpeted portion of the room, her eyes less clouded from sleepiness already. Suma quickly finishes her coffee and looks over at Amane and Seth, her amethyst eyes shining mischievously. "What's this I hear about an awesome plan?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"I can't believe how late we are!" Jono pants as he runs through the hall with Ryan. "This is all your fault, Darkness!

"Not my fault!" Ryan replies, easily running alongside his roommate. He actually seems to be enjoying the adrenaline rush.

"Not your fault!" Jono yells angrily. "You're the one who banished the alarm clock to the Shadow Realm!"

"It was annoying me." Ryan replies, a wicked grin on his face. "It's an evil and annoying creation and therefore it had to go."

"You're insane!"

Ryan laughs a laugh that has borderline evil tones and then he speeds up and bursts into the classroom, still laughing.

This, of course, freaks everybody out since they're in the middle of one of Professor Banner's lectures.

"Ah, misters Ishtar and Wheeler. How kind of you to join us. Please, take a seat with your classmates." Professor Banner says as a random graduated cylinder on his desk explodes.

Ryan cackles evilly, Jono collapses in a tired heap, Chizu giggles, and the rest of the Larks sigh heavily.

It's obviously going to be a long day.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

' _I can't believe we're running so late!'_  Chizu screams in her mind.  _'And to Crowler's class no less!'_  She glances over at Liam and Amane, ho had both been helping her with the first part of her ingenious plan.

Liam laughs. "Man! This is the most excitement that I've had in a long time!" He exclaims. A wide grin is on his face and his lilac eyes are shining happily.

"Sure is!" Amane agrees with a laugh.

Chizu stares at her two friends in disbelief. "Are all of you partial Egyptians going insane today, or what? Ryan was worse than usual this morning with his random cackling and evil laughter breakouts, and that's saying something. What's going on?"

"There's a storm coming!" Liam says happily. "I  _love_ thunderstorms!"

Amane has to hold back laughter at the frustrated look on the raven haired girl's face. "It's all in the weather, Chizu. It affects us all differently according to our element."

"Then what's your excuse?" Chizu asks.

Amane just smiles mysteriously. "Now that's a secret."

The three round a corner and a Amane smacks right into something solid. She yelps and falls backwards and lands on her butt.

"You okay, Amane?" Liam questions as he and Chizu help up the shorter girl.

Amane just nods and then turns her attention to the tall, dark haired Obelisk Blue in front of them. "I'm sorry about running into you." She apologizes, giving a short but polite bow. "My friends and I are running a little late so we were running and not watching where we were going."

Zane observes the three younger teens in front of him.  _'Interesting… a Slifer, a Ra, and an Obelisk hanging out without conflict.'_

A shy, light blue haired, 14-year-old girl peers out from behind Zane, her cerulean blue eyes curiously studying the other three.

"I would hurry if I were you." Zane tells them. "If you're too late then Crowler won't even let you in."

"Thanks, umm…" Amane falters when she realizes she doesn't even know his name.

"Zane." He supplies.

Amane smiles brightly while Liam tugs on her arm in an attempt to get her to move.

"I'm Amane Bakura and this is my friend Chizu K- Shirozaki and my cousin Liam Ishtar." She says as Chizu joins Liam in dragging her down the hall toward the classroom. "Thanks and bye!" She calls before turning around and taking off running again.

Chizu and Liam both stumble and then run after her.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Later that day at the Slifer Red boys dorm.

"Jaden! Chumley!" Syrus yells, running into their room.

Jaden looks up from his almost-nearly-forgotten homework, deciding that whatever distraction Syrus has brought will be much more exciting than any homework assignment. "What's up, Sy?" He asks.

"There's a duel going on at the main building between Chazz and one of the new Slifer girls!" Syrus tells him.

"When'd this happen?" Jaden asks, already standing up, his homework completely forgotten.

"Just a few minutes ago." Syrus replies. "Chazz said something about her just pretending that her last name is 'Muto' and she got really angry about it."

"Well what are we waiting for!" Jaden exclaims. "I've got to see this duel!"

Syrus barely has time to step to the side before Jaden runs past him. He sighs and begins chasing after him. "Jaden, wait up!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Cats and Dogs

_-Ding dong!-_

Ophelia (1) looks up from her Algebra homework when she hears the doorbell ring. Across from her is Salim, who is working on his Science homework.

"Ophelia, can you please get the door!" Ashling yells from the kitchen where she's attempting to cook a new dish for lunch.

With a sigh the sandy-blonde haired girl gets up from her seat and walks over and opens the door before the person on the other side has a chance to ring the doorbell again. Her face breaks out into a bright smile when she sees who it is.

"Aunt Mai!" Salim exclaims hopping up from the table. "Hi Maiko! Hi Kevin!" He greets.

Ophelia stands aside and opens the door wider. "Come on in. Momma's in the kitchen."

Mai smiles. "Thanks, Ophelia. Kevin, how about you play with Ophelia and Salim while Maiko and I go talk to Ashling."

Kevin and Ophelia exchange glances and then Ophelia makes a quick hand sign. Kevin nods in understanding, as does Salim, and then the three race back to Ophelia's room and shut the door.

Mai and her only daughter make their way to the kitchen where they find Ashling has opened a small portal to the Shadow Realm and is using it to vacuum up flames from the stove where a pan of charred, unidentifiable  _something_ is on fire and is smoking.

"I thought you gave up on cooking things that take a long time. Heck, I thought you gave up on cooking  _period_." Mai comments, amusement laced throughout her voice.

Maiko stifles a giggle at the look on her "aunt's" face.

Ashling waves her hand violently and the rest of the flames disappear into the Shadow Realm. With another wave of her hand the portal disappears. The pan continues to smoke.

"So," Ashling starts, slightly out of breath. "how was your trip?" She asks, already knowing the answer.

"Uneventful." Mai replies. "Neither Kevin nor Maiko could even find a hint of Shadow Magic. There was also no markings that we could find. So, how have things been here?"

"The same as always." Ashling tells her. "Yugi and Tama found traces of Shadow Magic at Duel Academy though."

This catches both Mai and Maiko's attention.

"Really?" Mai asks. "How'd that investigation go?"

Ashling shrugs. "I have no idea how it's going. Tama and Mokuba arranged for Liam, Zahur, Ryan, Ammon, Yasu, Suma, Amane, Chizu, Seth, and Jono to go to the academy to check it out."

"What?" The two violet-eyed females exclaim, albeit for different reasons.

"That's completely unfair!" Maiko continues. "I've been dying to go there ever since I heard of it when I was five!"

"Who says you can't go?" Ashling wisely asks her, causing some of Maiko's anger to vanish. "And when you get there make sure you yell at them and cause a bit scene to embarrass them." She says with a wink.

Maiko laughs. "Thank, Aunt Ash. I will. Mom, can I go home and pack up my stuff?"

Mai nods. "Go ahead."

"It was nice to see you again, Aunt Ash." Maiko says, giving a quick bow before rushing off to go home, which just happens to be right down the road.

"Was it really wise to send Ryan there?" Mai asks after a few minutes, during which Ashling empties the contents of the pan into the garbage can.

"They need the cover of darkness." Ashling replies vaguely.

Mai sighs. "It was your idea, wasn't it?" She says, not truly meaning it to be a question. "Ammon is with them and he can easily provide cover with the shadows. You're not plotting anything, are you?"

Ashling laughs. "Now, what gives you  _that_ idea?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Mokuba boredly sits in the chair in his small temporary office. He's currently balancing a pencil on his nose. A knock sounds at the door and he mumbles, "come in," while being careful not to jar the pencil.

A young man with light brown hair and kind hazel eyes steps into the office and stops short at the sight o his boss. "Uhh… Kaiba-san, what are you doing?"

Mokuba points to a large book on his desk that reads 'Guinness Book of World Records 2025'.

The young man sweat drops. "So how long have you been attempting to break this record?"

Mokuba holds up five fingers and then begins signing 'M-I-N-U-T-E-S'.

"Kaiba-san, forgive me for saying this but you are insane." He says.

Mokuba finally sighs and the pencil falls off his nose and onto the floor with a clatter. "I've been aware of that for some time now, Frank-kun. And how many times must I tell you to call me by my first name. My brother is Kaiba-san, not me."

Frank sighs. "…Mokuba-san."

"Better." Mokuba says, now grinning. "So, Frank-kun, what news do you have for me this wonderful afternoon?"

"Actually, I have information on that girl." Frank says, opening the folder in his hands. "Her name is Rose Trinity Davis. Her parents recently passed away and so she now cares for her little sister Selene Davis, who is two-years-old. Miss Davis is twenty-seven years old and works at a childcare center. She also writes children's books."

Mokuba is silent for a moment while he processes this information. "wow… how'd you get information on her so quickly?"

"We have her on file." Frank replies. "The childcare center works together with an orphanage around here that Kaiba Corp donates money to. She actually goes to the orphanage on some weekends to give the kids cookies and read to them. I also know her since she's my cousin. Sort of." He gives Mokuba a rather hard look. "If I find out about you hurting her in any way, I will hurt you, ignoring the face that you're my employer."

"Permission to beat me up granted." Mokuba says. "No one messes with family."

Frank smiles in relief. "Thanks, K- Mokuba-san."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"That was an awesome duel, Suma!" Ammon exclaims as he and the rest of the Larks walk away from the main building. "I never knew you had half of the magicians you played today!"

Suma laughs. "Yeah, I know. I kind of had to play them. Chazz is a good duelist, he just has bad people skills and he doesn't have fun while he's dueling. After all, the major part of dueling is having fun!"

"And while you all have been having fun here, I've been working hard at looking for tears in the barrier with my meager senses." A feminine voice says.

Jono and Seth pale at the sound of the voice and slowly turn around to face who it is.

Standing behind them with a bag slung casually over her shoulder is Maiko Wheeler. Her long, wavy blonde hair is pulled up into a high ponytail and she's wearing black Capri pants, a dark blue spaghetti strap shirt, and sneakers.

"Maiko!" Liam, Ryan, and Chizu exclaim.

Jono and Seth begin panicking as Maiko stalks toward them with a furious expression on her face. Both of the them yelp when she grabs them by their ears.

"How dare you come here without me! You know I've always wanted to come here and then as soon as I leave you two take the chance to come here! I ought to hang you by the ceiling by your feet!"

Maiko continues yelling at and threatening her brothers until her voice grows hoarse and faint. By that time the sun has begun to set so they all have to rush to their dorms. Maiko goes with Chizu, claiming to not want to look at her brothers for the rest of the day.

The next day they discover that Maiko has been put in the Obelisk Blue dorm with Chizu and will be helping them in their search for the rip in the barrier. Poor Seth and Jono.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Trip to Past

Chizu and Amane sit in Dr. Crowler's office going through the school's records while Liam, Ryan, Suma, and the triplets distract the blonde teacher.

"How goes the search?" Zahur questions the two girls as he steps into the room with Ammon and Yasu.

"Okay." Chizu replies distractedly, her eyes not straying from the screen while Amane quickly scrolls through different documents. "Hey, check the one about the abandoned dorm."

Amane obediently opens the document and the five are greeted by the sight of a picture of the dorm.

Ammon, Zahur, and Yasu crowd around the computer to read the text.

"It was once an Obelisk Blue dorm but was closed down due to the disappearance of a group of students." Zahur reads. "It doesn't have very much written about it through."

"They have a list of names." Amane comments, scrolling down. "Shall we print this and be on our way? As good as they are, the others won't be able to distract Crowler for much longer."

As if on cue the specially designed walkie talkie clipped onto Chizu's belt rings out the 'Lark Warning' tone.

/Lark-Soul to Lark-Seer, do you read me/ Seth's voice drifts through it.

Chizu snaps the battery-powered communication device off her belt and replies with: "Lark-Seer to Lark-Soul, I read you loud and clear."

/Crowler's heading your way. Due to intercept in five minutes. Wrap it up and get out of there./

Amane quickly hit's the print button and closes all of the documents and folders except for the one on the abandoned dorm. The printer works extremely fast and Yasu snatches the paper while Amane closes the document and begins erasing all traces of her being there.

/Three minutes/

"Done." Amane says, turning off the computer. "Tell Lark-Soul before he starts panicking."

Yasu snorts. "Seth? Panic? As if."

/GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE YOU IDIOTS/ Liam screams, static present from the loudness of his voice.

"Liam and panicking. Now that makes sense." Yasu says.

The five of them then bolt from the room and take off down the hall. They get a little ways from the room when Chizu gasps and stops in her tracks, her blue eyes going blank.

Amane skids to a halt and gestures for Yasu, Ammon, and Zahur to go on. "But Ama-"

"Go!" The white-haired girl hisses.

Ammon tugs on his sister;s arm. "C'mon, guys. Amane can handle it."

Amane waits until the three are gone before she grabs the walkie talkie. "Lark-Void to Lark-Darkness. Come in, Lark-Darkness."

/Lark-Darkness here. What's wrong, Lark-Void/ Ryan asks.

"Lark-Seer is down and we need some cover or something. Larks- Rain, Shadow, and Leaf have gone ahead. I'll throw out a tendril of SM, but you know that's all I can do."

/Locked onto Seer's energy. It's flaring badly./ Ryan tells her worriedly. /Don't move./ He warns.

Amane remains still as a creeping darkness surrounds her and Chizu, hiding them from view. She closes her eyes and holds onto Chizu's arm and braces herself for the familiar feeling of being pulled into the Shadow Realm. Something glows from around Chizu's neck and something under Amane's shirt glows. The two golden glows spread around the two girls, forming a sort of protective barrier.

The strange feeling returns as they sink back through the barrier between the Shadow Realm and the Normal Plane. The glow dies down and the sphere of darkness shatters with a small 'BOOM!'.

Amane opens her eyes and, once they adjust to the light, can see Ryan, Liam, Suma, and Maiko standing in front of herself and Chizu.

"Have a nice trip?" Liam teases, knowing she hates the feeling of phasing through the barrier.

"Shut up." Amane replies, remaining sitting until the feeling returns to her legs.

After she stands up, Chizu snaps out of her vision-mode and looks around in confusion.

"I haven't been out of it for that long, have I?" She questions.

Maiko helps the raven-haired girl up while she replies. "Probably about five minutes going by the time Amane called Ryan."

"So what'd you See?" Suma asks curiously, knowing the only time Chizu basically passes out with her eyes still open is when she was a vision.

Chizu frowns as she dusts off her uniform. "It was a bit of a blur, actually. Just a series of confusing pictures. I'm pretty sure it's mainly got to do with this island."

"Was there anything you recognized?" Maiko asks immediately.

Chizu shakes her head. "No. It's really weird. Usually I get more to work with. It's very vague this time…"

Everyone is silent for a moment, taken off guard by this information.

"So… what does this mean?" Maiko asks, peering around at her friends with worried violet eyes.

Suma sighs. "It means that something is interfering with the Items. Most likely it'll be a particularly violet rip in the barrier. So there's defiantly something here."

Ryan nods, for once completely serious. "There's a steady hum of darkness around here. Each day it's call becomes stronger and stronger in it's attempt to pull me or Ammon to it. It's a large tear and the barrier continuously cried out to be healed."

The others, even Maiko who doesn't use their branch of Shadow Magic, shiver. The barrier is made of living energy, which makes it able to self heal in most cases. This makes it as alive as any duel monster or human in their respective plane.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"That settles it then." Zahur says later when they regroup. "Ryan and Ammon need to go to the abandoned dorm to see if that's where the rip is. Somebody else who can use Shadow Magic needs to go with them."

"I'll go!" Suma immediately volunteers. "This abandoned dorm looks really cool."

Yasu gives Suma an unyielding hard look. "You are not to go into the building. You three are just going to confirm that the rip is at the dorm. With how long it's been open it will most likely take all of us to close it."

Ammon, Ryan, and Suma all look put out at this fact.

"We will be able to go in eventually, right?" Ammon asks in a pleading tone.

"Eventually." Yasu agrees.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"I still don't see anything!" Ryan loudly complains as he, Ammon, and Suma traipse through the woods in dark clothing.

Suma rolls her amethyst eyes and rolls up the sleeves on her long-sleeved shirt. "Ryan, we've only been walking for five minutes. The Ring could barely pick up on it's presence before we got in the woods."

"But that's just because the rip in the barrier has been interfering with the Items." Ammon says smartly. "And anyway, what does that have to do with not being able to see anything? It is dark out here. Can't you make a fireball or something?"

"While we're in the woods?" Suma asks in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"Are you insane!"

"Sorry, that's Ryan's department."

"HEY!"

"You know, we're lucky that our powers haven't gone haywire yet." Ammon says suddenly, changing the subject before an argument has the chance to start. "I mean, if it's messing with the Items, what is it doing to our powers?"

The three falls silent while they think about this. Thinking about the rip being so large that it's messing with the Millennium Items and could possibly make their rather destructive powers go haywire puts a damper on their good mood.

"There's the dorm." Ammon tonelessly says, pointing ahead at a large, dark, formidable shape.

The three of them walk up to the gate and then stop. Suma sets down the bag she's been carrying and unzips it and pulls out two familiar objects. She hands the Scales to Ryan and puts the Puzzle around her neck. Meanwhile Ammon fishes around in his pocket until he locates a small golden sphere- the Eye.

The three stand together and each put one hand together while the other rests on their item. Then they close their eyes and send out their own Shadow Magic to check and see if the rip is here.

All at once the three's eyes snap open and jerk their hands away as if burned.

"Damn." Suma curses. "It's worse than I thought."

"I need to sit down…" Ammon says faintly. Then he collapses right on the spot.

Suma shakily reaches for her deck and draws three cards. "It'll be okay, Ammon." She tells him before looking at the three cards. "Alright… I call Dark Magician girl! I ask for the Pharaoh's Magician! And I summon Kuriboh!"

The Millennium Puzzle glows and a small portal appears allowing the three creatures of the Shadow Realm through.

"Dark Magician Girl, I need you to go to the Obelisk Blue girls dorm and the boy's dorm and tell Chizu and Zahur that the rip is here and we need to it sealed up really soon." Suma says.

Dark Magician Girl nods and then flies off in the direction of the Obelisk Blue dorm. Suma turns her attention to Kuriboh.

"Kuriboh, can you go tell the same thing to Seth and Amane? They're both in the Slifer Red girl's dorm because Seth has been staying in our room due to overcrowding."

Kuriboh trills happily and then floats quickly off toward the Slifer Red buildings.

"I think you know what to do." Suma tells the Pharoah's Magician, which looks an awful lot like her dad, Yugi. "Yasu and Maiko share a room at the Ra Yellow girls dorm and Liam and Jono are in the boy's dorm."

The Pharaoh's Magician bows and then teleports himself to the Ra Yellow dorms in a shower of white sparks.

Suma now turns to her two "cousins" and raises an eyebrow when she sees Ryan poking Ammon. She sighs and rolls her eyes, since this is perfectly normal behavior for the spiky-brown and blonde haired boy. "Come on Ryan. Lets get Ammon to his room." She says, stepping forward to help carry him.

"I've got him." Ryan says cheerfully, easily lifting Ammon up onto his back. "Lead the way, oh-fearless-pyromaniacal-leader."

Suma smiles weakly. "Yay."

Ryan nudges her to get her going and together they venture back through the woods to their respective dorms.

When they're gone Alexis steps out from behind a tree, confusion written on her face.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"It was really weird." Alexis tells Jaden, Syrus, Bastian, and Chazz. "I didn't get a good look at what the girl had, but the other two had what looked like golden scales and some sort of golden ball. They started shining when they joined hands."

"Wow…" Syrus murmurs.

"So what happened?" Jaden asks, obviously into the story.

"Not much happened, Jaden. The dark-haired boy collapsed and the other two looked distressed by something." Alexis says. "The next part I have trouble believing though…" She looks up at the others who are listening in interest. "I swear the girl summoned three of her monsters and was talking to them, but she didn't have a dueling disc or anything. She said something to each of them and then they ran off. Those three left after that: She finishes summarizing.

"Did you hear anything they said?" Bastian questions. His mind is already working to try and figure this out logically.

Alexis thinks back. "I think the girl said something about a 'shadow realm'." Her hand goes toward her key that's hanging around her neck. "You don't think they're those Shadow Riders that we were warned about, do you?"

"Perhaps we should talk to Professor Banner about this." Bastian says logically. "He may know something about this 'shadow realm'."

"Or we could just question them." Chazz comments. "Go straight to the source."

Bastian frowns. "I wouldn't suggest going that. We don't know what they're capable of. And anyway, you've already made the Muto girl angry."

"What's the worst they can do though?" Jaden asks. "Beat us in a duel?"

"Speak for yourself, Slifer-slacker." Chazz responds. "Chazz Princeton doesn't lose."

The statement causes a small argument to break out which evolves into a duel between Chazz and Jaden during which the others go talk to Professor Banner.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Now this is nice." Tama comments, carrying a tray of assorted drinks out to the patio.

Outside the ex-hikari and ex-yami are relaxing in the comfortable chairs on the Bakura/Khalid patio.

Yume is sitting in Bakura's lap at the table and Yami and Yugi are sharing a loveseat away from the table. Ryou is sitting at the table across from Mariku and Malik and an empty chair is between them.

"Lemonade for you two." Tama says, handing Yami and Yugi their drinks. "Hot chocolate for Bakura and ice water for Yume," She continues, setting the cups down at the table. "Soda for Marik and cool aid for Malik. And tea with lemon in it for Ryou and I." Tama smiles and sits down beside Ryou. "Ra… it's been a while since we got together. Just us, I mean. We should do it more often."

"As long as Bakura doesn't have writers block again." Yume says teasingly. A smirk forms on her face. "You think he's bad when he's in a  _good_ mood then you've never seen in in a bad mood."

Marik smirks. "Aww, the bid bad paper and pencil has the defeated the almighty Thief King Bakura? Poor- ACK!"

Fed up with the taunting, Bakura has thrown his mug of hot chocolate at his fellow ex-yami's head. The spiky-haired man yelps loudly and falls out of his chair with a crash.

Tama, Ryou, Malik, Yami, and Yugi all sweat drop while Yume runs her fingers through Bakura's hair soothingly.

"Anyway…" Tama takes her eyes off of the spot Marik once was. "What has everyone been up to lately?"

"We're planning on expanding the game shop." Yugi says, glancing worriedly at Marik's moaning form. "We've been getting a lot more business lately and Damian suggested that we remodel while Suma is at Duelist Academy. Yami and I are going on vacation for some of the time it's being fixed up and Duke's volunteered his house as a place to stay. Did you know he has a younger sister who's about Mokuba's age?"

Tama nods. "Yeah. Her name's Lisa."

"We've also decided to have another kid!" Yugi chirps.

Yami choke's on his lemonade and whips his head around to look at Yugi. "W-what?" He sputters. "When did we decide this!"

"Last night."

"That's cheating, aibou!"

"No it's not. You should pay more attention to your surroundings is all. It's not my fault you were too busy watching Survivor rather than listen to your cute, innocent hikari."

Tama sighs and looks helplessly at Ryou and broadcasts her thought to him, Malik, and Yume.  _'So much for a change of topic.'_

Malik and Ryou each crack a smile and Yume chuckles and whispers the "statement" to Bakura. Marik whimpers in pain while trying to get back up from his position on the ground.

Some things will never change.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: Birth of Light_

"Salim, hurry!" Ophelia yells at her younger brother's bedroom door. "We're going to be late again if you don't hurry!"

Today Ophelia's sandy blonde hair has been tied back at the nape of her neck and she's wearing the blue and pink uniform for Domino Elementary. For the first time she's embracing her Egyptian heritage and so she now has kohl lining her eyes. She's also wearing gold earrings that are shaped like ankhs and several gold wrist and arm bands. Her skin is also more tan than usual because she's been spending time helping her Aunt Ishizu in the garden.

Salim cracks open the door to his bedroom and peers out with the most pathetic expression he can muster. "I don't feel so good, Lia."

Ophelia frowns and roughly shoves open the door. In a simple maneuver she keeps her brother from moving away and places her hand on his forehead. "You're fine." She tells him.

"Salim! Ophelia! It's time to go!" Ashling yells from the door where she's holding up the bus.

"Come on." Ophelia growls. She grabs her younger brother's arm and drags him down the hall, heading to the front door.

"But, Lia, I don't want to- ow!" Salim cringes when Ophelia tightens her grip slight and pulls him quickly to the front door.

Seeing the look of pain on her youngest child's face, Ashling makes Ophelia let go and go get on the bus. When she's gone, Ashling pulls back Salim's sleeve and her eyes widen when she catches sight of a bruise.

"Salim, what happened?" She demands.

Salim looks away. "I fell. That's all. I fell and banged my wrist."

Ashling frowns having noticed the way the bruise is shaped. 'That's not an I-fell-and-banged-my-wrist bruise. It was deliberate.' She sighs and tugs off her blue wristband and hands it to him. "Here, wear this until it heals up."

Salim takes the wristband and slips it on. Then he smiles gratefully at his mom. With a simple, "Thank you" and a hug, he's gone off to get on the bus.

Ashing sighs heavily as she closes the door, the stress of the day already catching up with her. _'It's been a rough week… first Liam and Zahur go off to Duel Academy to seal a hole in the barrier, then Ophelia starts acting oddly, and now I find out that Salim's being bullied at school- at a place where he's suppose to be safe. If only I could do something…'_  For a moment she entertains herself with the thought of sending Salim to school with one of the big cats she works with.  _'No… I'd probably make things worse.'_ Ashling sighs once again and glances at the golden furred kitten who's napping in a sunbeam pouring through a window. _'I'm calling Malik. He should be at the museum by now.'_

Salim silently steps off the bus, ignoring the laughing and happily chatting kids, and looks around worriedly. When he doesn't see what he was dreading he relaxes visibly and starts heading toward the school building.

"Here's our little buddy! Trying to sneak off, already."

Salim's blue eyes go wide and he shakes slightly as he turns around to face what haunts most of his nightmares. "Hi- Hiroji." He stutters.

The dark brown haired boy smirks and grabs a hold of Salim. "How's my favorite little punching bag?"

Salim's heart skips a beat when he's lifted off the ground and he tightly squeezes his eyes shut.  _'Somebody please help me! Please, anybody!'_ He prays.

_/Hold on, child of the light. I'm coming./_

The next thing Salim knows, his entire body grows warm and pulses with some unknown energy. A bright light then shines from somewhere and he feels like he's floating in the air before he hit's the ground.

"SALIM!" A voice yells.

The dark haired and skinned boy opens his blue eyes and rolls over onto his stomach before getting up. His vision blurs at first, but then focuses on the approaching forms.

The first to reach Salim is his eight-year-old cousin Mana Bakura. She has shoulder length red hair with black highlights and has brown eyes. Like her name sake, she's extremely cheerful and easily goofs up on the spells the original Mana is teaching her.

Next comes Taro Bakura and Yukio Kaiba, both of whom are ten-years-old and nearly inseparable.

Taro has the classic Bakura family white hair, but he has golden-blonde strands that run through it. He also has brown eyes.

Yukio has brown hair a shade lighter than his dad's and has light brown eyes.

The last to arrive are Matsu Ishtar, Ophelia, and Kevin.

Matsu is Mariku and Holly's only daughter and is twelve-years-old. She has sandy blonde hair with brown bangs framing her face and dark lilac eyes. She's possibly the sanest of all the Larks.

Kevin has been mentioned before, but never described. He has bright red hair and emerald green eyes and looks nothing like anyone else in his family. Of course, he is adopted so it makes sense.

"What happened?" Salim quietly asks, glancing nervously around.  _'Where'd Hiroji go?'_

"I was about to ask you that." Ophelia tells him. "All I saw was a flash of white light and the next thing I know you're on the ground."

The others nod or make some noise of agreement. Then Mana gasps and grabs his arm, having sensed something there. She quickly tugs off his wristband and traces her finger over the symbol for 'light' that is now on his wrist.

"Salim's 'light'?" Matsu questions. "Who'd have guessed? All of us Ishtars could possibly be classified as insane." She tilts her head sideways slightly. "Of course, out of all of us Salim is the best to be chosen for 'light'. He's the innocent one."

"But… what does this mean?" Salim asks, tearfully. He has no idea what the heck is going on at this point. "How am I going to control this? I don't want to hurt anyone!"

Taro smiles. "That's easy, Salim. My mom and dad and your dad and Uncle Yugi and Uncle Malik can help you. We'll all help you. As for what it means; it just means that you're going to have some degree of control over light and will always be referred to as the pure one in the group."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Later that evening Ophelia rushes over to the Wheeler's house so she can talk to Kevin about something. Ashling smiles when she notices the guitar in her daughter's hand. She already has an idea about what the two are up to.

"Hey, where's Ophelia?" Malik asks while he wraps his arms about Ashling's waist from behind.

Ashling smiles. "She's over at the Wheeler's house talking to Kevin about something. She promised to be home by six." She chuckles when Malik grumbles something under his breath. "What was that?"

"I don't like her hanging out with him all the time." Malik tells her.

Ashling turns around and kisses him on the cheek. "They're only eleven, dear. We have a while before Ophelia will even be interested in dating. Besides, would you rather it be Kevin, who we've known since the Wheeler's adopted him, or some boy who you've never met?" She leaves him with this thought while she goes off to start on dinner.

Malik sighs and runs a hand through his hair, idly making a note to trim his hair.  _'I hate it when she's right.'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Mokuba lets out a small sigh as he stares blankly at the ceiling. _'Where did I go wrong? I had everything planned out! It was perfect! I was a gentleman and asked her opinions and everything!'_ Now he heavily sighs, which causes the pencil he's been balancing on his nose to fall to the floor with a clatter.

"Mokuba-san," Frank says, stepping into the office. "do- is something wrong?"

"No. Everything. Is. Perfect." The darker haired man allows his head to fall against his desk with a dull clunk. "What do you need, Frank-kun?"

Frank ignores the question, more worried about his boss than what they'll be having for lunch. "I'm guessing your date didn't go so well, huh? Just out of curiosity, where did you take her?"

Mokuba lifts his head off the desk and dully begins to tell Frank about where he took Rose. "… I don't understand where I went wrong. Everything was perfect."

Frank sighs. "There's something you've got to understand about Rose. She has always felt uncomfortable when she's at some fancy, expensive place. I've seen her turn away a lot of guys because they insist on treating her like royalty and doing absolutely everything for her. I've never really given any of the guys interested in her any advice before either."

Mokuba looks at Frank in surprise. "So why are you telling me?"

"Because you're a nice guy and I've seen how down-to-earth you can be." Frank says. "You're not afraid to work hard and you know when to give help and when not to. Just remember what I said before and you'll be fine."

Mokuba smiles gratefully. "Thanks, Frank-kun. Hey, do you think she's like to go to the fair I've been hearing about? Her little sister could come with us."

"I think she'd like that."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"I love Fridays!" Ryan shouts to the sky, making Chizu laugh and the others either sigh or chuckle.

If you having guessed by Ryan's exclamation, it's Friday evening. They've all just gotten out of Crowler's class and couldn't be happier. In fact, they're planning a celebration for surviving their first week.

At this moment they're walking in little groups and in those groups they're discussing their plans for tonight. The groups are Ryan, Chizu, Seth, and Jono; Suma, Yasu, Zahur, and Maiko; and Amane, Ammon, and Liam.

"So Chizu, do you have it? Do you?" Ryan eagerly asks, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Please tell me you have it!"

Chizu grins. "Of course I have it. I love them just as much as you do!"

"Love what?" Jono and Seth ask at the same time.

"Not telling!" Ryan and Chizu reply in singing voices.

With the next group…

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" Suma exclaims. "Don't you think so, Maiko?"

Maiko holds up her hands defensively and backs away slightly. "Don't go dragging me into this, Fireball."

Suma pouts. "Aww, you're not fun."

Yasu sighs. "Suma, there is no way that we're going to glue my brother to a rocket powered skateboard. Do you remember the rocket powered roller skates incident? How about when Ryan, Liam, and Seth made rocket powered  _ice_ skates? It was a complete and utter disaster."

"I know, I know. It was just a thought." Suma says. She looks a little disappointed, but that only lasts a few seconds. "Hey, you think Ryan-"

"NO!" Yasu and Maiko shout at the same time.

Zahur chuckles and pats Suma on the shoulder. "You're fighting a loosing battle, cousin."

And with the final group…

Silence. None of them are talking at all surprisingly. Of course, that won't last too long as a certain member of this group seems to highly dislike silence.

"I don't like silence." Ammon announces. "One of you please talk to me. Please? Prety please?" He begs when neither Amane nor Liam say a word. "Come on guys! Say anything! Anything at all!"

Amane giggles. "Relax, Ammon. We're just thinking is all."

Liam mock gasps in surprise. "We were? I didn't know we even know how to think!"

Ammon and Amane laugh, remembering the full version of that joke. They made it up several years ago.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Hours later the Larks are over by the woods setting up their campsite. The three Ishtars are setting up the tents for those who want them. Suma, Chizu, Yasu, and Maiko are off looking for firewood, Amane and Seth are rolling out sleeping bags and rummaging up food, and Ammon and Jono are sitting there doing nothing. Well, Jono's doing nothing and Ammon is entertaining himself by making shapes with the shadows.

"We have returned!" Suma announces, stepping back into the clearing with an armload of firewood. "After braving the many dangers of the forest, like the killer squirrels, the demon rabbits, and the infamous man-eating tree's we have man-"

"Suma, just get the firewood over here and put it in the pile." Maiko interrupts. She and Chizu have already put theirs in a pile and Chizu's now selecting the wood they'll start with first.

Yelling can be heard from the direction the others are putting up the tents as Yasu comes out of the forest. "It sounds like one of the tents collapsed on them." The violet eyed girl comments.

A little while later they finally have everything all set up and are setting down around the fire to cook hot dogs. While they're waiting for their dinner to cook, the triplets start a duel against the three Ishtar boys.

About halfway through the duel, a loud voice cuts through the night.

"See! I told you there was a duel going on!" Jaden shouts to whoever it is that's behind him.

All of the Larks look up from the game or the fire to see who the newcomers are.

Behind Jaden are Syrus, Chumley, Bastian, and Alexis. The usual crew.

"What's going on here?" Alexis asks, looking at the set-up.

Jaden, of course, immediately spots the cards laying on the ground and takes a seat to watch the end part of the duel. Chizu meanwhile, takes this time to explain what they're doing and that they have permission. During the explanation the triplets pull off their best chain reaction combo attack only to be foiled by Zahur and beaten by Ryan and Liam's combo attack.

"Cure thee! To have defeated the invincible triple-team duelists! You must have cheat-"

"Oh, put a sock in it, Seth." Maiko interrupts. "They won fair and square."

Seth pouts. "I know. And you know that I couldn't resist saying something!"

The two siblings bicker back and forth for a while with the other Larks jumping in now and then. The other DA students sit there somewhat quietly, looking a little confused. Particularly Syrus.

"I thought you said you sensed something weird, Jay." Syrus whispers. "There's nothing weird here."

Jaden glances at the Larks for a moment. "I did, but it's gone now."

A clear whistle pierces the air, getting everyone's attention. Everyone looks over at Chizu to see the younger girl holding a bag of marshmallows.

"I LOVE YOU!" Ryan squeals, glomping Chizu and nuzzling her neck.

Chizu giggles, Liam snorts, Zahur rolls his eyes, and everyone else sweat drops.

Seconds later Ryan has plopped down about three feet from the fire with Chizu in his lap and a stick and marshmallow bag in one hand. When Ammon inches toward him in hopes of getting a marshmallow Ryan growls and holds Chizu and the marshmallows close to him.

"Mine."

Whether he means the marshmallows or Chizu or both, nobody can tell for sure.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Night comes to find the Larks, Alexis, Jaden, Syrus, Chumley, and Bastian playing Truth or Dare while eating hotdogs and, in Chizu and Ryan's case, eating marshmallows.

"Chizu, truth or dare?" Suma asks. She had just been dared to try and do a handstand while eating a hot dog. She succeeded.

Chizu quickly chews and swallows the marshmallow that Ryan has stuck into her mouth and then she answers. "Truth."

"Do you like Ryan?"

Chizu smiles. "Of course!" Then she happily kisses him on the cheek and turns to face Alexis. "Alexis, truth or dare?"

Alexis thinks for a moment. "Dare."

Chizu immediately grins, already knowing the perfect dare for Alexis. "Goodie! I dare you to go on a date with Jaden."

Several people promptly choke on their food while Alexis turns slightly red and Jaden looks a little confused.

"A date?" Alexis asks in disbelief.

"That's right!" Chizu replies, sticking a few marshmallows onto the end of the stick so Ryan can roast more. "A date arranged by myself and Ryan."

At this point Yasu leans over to Alexis and whispers. "I'd run. It's never a good sign when those two decide to play matchmaker."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Picture time!" Maiko announces after a few rounds of truth or dare. A large photo album covered with pictures of Duel Monsters soon finds its way onto her lap.

"Ooooo!" Liam exclaims. He drops the wood he's getting from the pile and in his excitement he jumps over a large rock to get back to the group. "I can't believe you even thought to bring it! This is great!"

Maiko rolls her eyes while Zahur jerks his twin down into a sitting position and hisses, "Stop it! You're making a fool out of yourself!"

"That looks so cool!" Jaden has discovered the Duel Monster pictures and is admiring them. "What is it?"

Maiko passes the photo album over to Suma, who is the apparent "leader" of the Larks. The others are already making their way over to the young Muto.

"This is our official travel-album." Suma explains. "Maiko had it since she, her younger brother, and her mom went on a trip before we all left to come here. I'm glad she brought it! Now we can introduce you all to the rest of the family by picture." She tells the five non-Larks.

Soon they're all laughing over several embarrassing family pictures. Most of them come from the end result of a prank gone wrong.

"Here's one from the time Yukio and Taro put super glue in Ophelia and Kevin's chairs." Suma says, immediately launching into a funny story in which the sandy-haired Ishtar and red-haired Wheeler got the better of the two best friends.

"What happened there?" Bastian asks, pointing to a picture of a battered and bruised Ryan, Liam, and Seth.

Yasu rolls her eyes. "That's the result of those three goofing off with experimental rocket powered roller skates. You don't want to go there, trust me."

The non-Larks sweat drop.


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: Operation- Hidden Blue_

Mokuba takes a deep, calming breath and then knocks on the door to Rose's house. Then he nervously goes over what he wants to say in his mind.

"Hello?" Rose questions, opening the door. Her eyes widen slightly when she sees who it is. "Oh! Mokuba, I wasn't expecting you. Do you need something?"

"Um, well, I don't really need anything. I was just wondering… wouldyougononadatewithme?" As soon as those words leave his mouth in a jumbled mess, Mokuba mentally hits himself in the head.  _'Idiot! What are you, back in high school!'_

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Rose says. She seems a little amused by his stumbling.

Mokuba takes a deep breath in another attempt to calm his nerves. "I heard that there was a fair of some sort around here and was wondering if you would like to go. Your little sister can come too, if she'd like to."

Rose seems to consider this for a moment. "Why not? Are we going now or some other time?"

"Now is as good a time as ever." Mokuba says. "How long will it take you to get ready?"

Rose smiles. "Not long at all. I'll go get Selene and a jacket and I'll be ready to go."

Mokuba smiles as well. "Alright."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The next day Frank finds Mokuba happily humming some tune in his office while spinning around in circles in his rolling chair. Frank sweat drops and then leaves the office, deciding not to ruin his boss's good mood by telling him about the machine that has somehow shorted out.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Back in Domino City, Malik and Tama have gotten together for their monthly "sparring" match. Ryou is watching the two of them fight from the safety of the kitchen, where he's making lunch and glancing out the window now and then. He sweat drops when Tama throws Malik only to trip and fall over one of her fans that is laying in the grass.

A loud 'DONG' sounds through the house and Taro and Mana can be heard yelling, "I'll get it!" Moments later sounds of disappointment can be heard as wither Yume or Bakura has gotten to the door before either of the kids.

Ryou sighs and sets down the spoon he's using and goes into the hall in hopes of preventing yet another argument-turned-shoving-match-turned-fight. Instead of finding his kids arguing with each other and Bakura or Yume, he finds Yugi and Yami standing at the door with four shocked people around them. Apparently Yugi has won the argument, but this time it's Yami who gets to play "mother". (1)

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Why does it have to be me!" Amane hisses, struggling to get out of the situation she's gotten herself into.

Seth and Amane both just smile and shove the white-haired girl toward the group of three Slifers, one Ra, and two Obelisks. This causes Amane to stumble and fall out from the bush where she was "hiding" with Suma and Seth.

A little over a week has passed since Suma, Ryan, and Ammon visited the abandoned dorm to see if that's where the rip is. During this week the Larks have been trying to come up with the best course of action for tackling the problem and have noticed a strange energy around Jaden, some of his friends, Professor Banner, and Dr. Crowler. Also during this week, Seto contacts Chizu to make sure everything is going alright. It's through her dad that she learns that the seven of the non-Larks have the keys that will unlock the beast cards. (Something that Seto and Yami curse Pegasus repetitively for making.)

So now the Larks have decided they need to have Jaden and his friends help them with the dorm. This decision is made after they learn that Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley have been inside the dorm before and could help them out a little. Also, Seto had hinted to Chizu that they would be good allies.

"Hey Amane, what's up?" Jaden asks, actually remembering her name. "Where's the others?"

"They're around her somewhere." Amane replies vaguely after collecting herself from the fall. "I was actually looking for you guys. I want to ask you something."

"Well ask your question and then leave." Chazz says. "We were discussing something important here."

Amane's lilac eyes flash dangerously, a tell-tale sign that the temper she inherited from her mom is rising to the surface. She glares at the dark haired Obelisk Blue. "Well excuse me for having a question, Mr-big-bag-Obelisk-idiot. Not offense meant, Alexis." Before Alexis can say anything she takes a step closer to the group. "And if it's as important as you're making it out to be then obviously you'll remember it after I ask my question. Of course, I might just decide to stay just to spite you."

In their hiding place Seth and Suma sweat drop.

"She gets so worked up sometimes." Seth says with a sigh. "And now she's found somebody to argue with. Is that good or bad?"

"Both." Suma tells him. "We'll never hear the end of how much he annoys her. I don't really blame her for being annoyed since he annoys me too. That and he insulted me."

Seth grins. "Are we sure that calling you a shrimpy, Yugi Muto wannabe is really an insult?"

Needless to say, Seth gets hit in the head for that comment.

"I was just jo- king…" He trails off as something catches his attention. "Pretty…"

Suma raises an eyebrow, wondering what has turned Seth into a pile of babbling goo, and turns to look in the direction the violet-eyed boy is looking. When she sees what, or rather who, he's looking at she makes a noise of exasperation. "Seth, don't sit here and drool. Go talk to her if you think she's so pretty."

Seth make a whimpering sound.

"If you don't go over and talk to her then I will embarrass you by dragging you over to her and personally introduce you to her. Then I'll stay there and gush about how cute you look together and-" She stops and smirks as Seth practically runs out of their hiding place and then walks over to the pale blue-haired Obelisk Blue girl.  _'I love messing with him.'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Mokuba yawns widely as he opens the door to the small house he's renting, at Seto's insistence, and kicks off his shoes because he doesn't want to set down the grocery bags in his arms. Then he makes his way to the kitchen to put away the groceries and start making dinner. Before he gets a chance to start dinner, the phone rings.

"Moshi, moshi." Mokuba tiredly says.

"Mokuba? Is that you?" Rose's voice drifts through the phone, snapping Mokuba out of his sleepiness.

"Yeah, it's me. What's up?" Mokuba asks, hoping nothing is wrong.

He hears Rose sigh in relief before she replies. "Mokuba, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure."

"Can you watch Selene for me tomorrow? Her usual sitter is busy and there aren't many other people I'd trust."

'Which is probably key for, "everyone else is busy".' Mokuba thinks to himself. "Of course I'll watch Selene. I need a break from work anyway." 'Frank-kun can handle things at work.'

"Thank you so much, Mokuba. I really appreciate it." Rose tells him. "I'll repay you some how."

"No need." Mokuba tells her. "I'm happy to do it. Really. Do you want me to pick her up?"

"If you don't mind. Around eight or so is best."

Mokuba quickly finds a pencil and a sticky note pad and jots this information down. "Alright. I'll see you in the morning."

"Bye."

-Click-

' _Frank-kun is going to kill me…'_ Mokuba thinks as he hangs up the phone.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The next morning at the office…

"Mokuba-san, where are those-" Frank stops short and looks around the office devoid of Mokuba. "Mokuba-san?" He questions, wondering if his boss has fallen asleep under his desk again. Just to check, Frank walks over to the desk and looks beneath it.

"MOKUBA-SAN!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Creepy…" Amane comments, looking at the dark dorm.

Somehow Amane has convinced Jaden to show them around the abandoned dorm and because the brunette is coming with them, the rest of his crew is there as well.

"We need to split up into groups." Zahur comments, critically eying the building. "At least one Lark in each. Yasu, how many are we?"

"Eighteen." Yasu responds immediately. "Two groups of four and two of five. Two Larks in groups of four; three in five."

Everyone else except for Liam, Chizu, and Suma look between the two in confusion.

"Groups?" Alexis questions. "Wouldn't it be a better idea to stay together?"

"No." Zahur says simply. "Suma, how are we arranged? What are the titles?"

Suma quickly snaps into action along with Chizu. "Chizu, Ryan, Alexis, and Jaden will make up team Dark-Seer; myself, Amane, Syrus, and Bastian shall make up team Fire-Void."

"And Liam, Maiko, Ammon, Chazz, and Chumley will be team Thunder-Shadow; and everyone else, Jono, Seth, Yasu, Zane, and Zahur, will be team Aqua-Earth. Team leaders carry our special walkie talkies and they have already been given out by Zahur and Yasu." Chizu says.

"The dorm has four different floors, thus why there's four teams. Team Dark-Seer has the basement; Fire-Void has the first floor; Thunder-Shadow has the attic; and Aqua-Eath has the second floor." Suma announces.

Yasu takes over the "orders" now. "Larks, you all know the rules, but I'll review the most important ones for our guests' and Ryan's sake. The walkie talkie's stay on at all times. Stay in your groups. Don't split up. Stay aware at all times. If you find what we're looking for then report your location. The same goes if you run into serious trouble. If you must summon then summon. No hesitation. No regrets." She looks around at everyone. "Talk to your groups inside if you have any questions. You'll need something to talk about in there or else everyone will be freaking out because of how dark it is in there."

"Lets move out!" Chizu says cheerfully. "The least time we've got to spend in there the better!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**Team Thunder-Shadow.**

"Man, this place is creepy." Chumley comments, looking around the attic.

Ammon and Liam exchange grins.

"Yeah," The blonde says, his grin growing wider. "pretty creepy."

Maiko frowns, already recognizing the signs of the twins plotting something. "Don't even think about it you two." She says warningly.

Now Liam and Ammon exchange disappointed looks and file away their plots for later use. Most likely they'll tell Chizu and Ryan the plans and from there it will grow into something even more stupid that will probably actually work.

"Remember, we're looking for anything strange or out of place-"

"Like a big mass of glowing purple or shadowy stuff?" Ammon asks.

Maiko rolls her eyes. "Yes. And if you find anything, then tell me."

Chazz snorts. "Who died and made you boss?"

Maiko smirks and unclips a walkie talkie from her belt. "This."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**Team Fire-Void.**

"You notice they give us the biggest space to investigate." Amane comments, her accent thicker than normal because of her annoyance. Or maybe it's fear. She jumps almost immediately after saying this. "Great Scott! What was that!"

"It was probably just a rat, A'ne." Suma says dismissively. "No need to be so jumpy about it."

"A rat?" Syrus asks worriedly. "I don't like rats."

"As long as its not a zombie or mummy or something that wants to kill us because it craves the taste of human flesh." Amane says, glancing nervously around.

Suma rolls her eyes while Syrus squeaks, "Zombie!" She turns to Amane and says, "You have been spending far too much time around the boys."

Amane laughs nervously. "Ha ha ha. No, not really. It's just kind of fun scaring people." Then she promptly screams and runs and hides behind Suma when Bastian taps her on the shoulder.

Suma snickers and gives Amane a look. "You were saying?"

"Oh, shut the bloody hell up."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**Team Aqua-Earth.**

Jono and Seth boredly follow Zahur, Yasu, and Zane around the second floor. The two of them think it's pretty obvious that the rip isn't on this floor. After all, in all the scary movies and ghost stories everything evil or creepy is found in the basement or the attic. They voice this opinion.

"Just because it doesn't look creepy doesn't mean the rip couldn't be here." Zahur says patiently.

Zane frowns. "What exactly is this 'rip' you keep mentioning."

"It's basically a hole in the barrier that separates this realm from the Shadow Realm." Yasu explains. "Left open or unchecked it could cause a massive power outage or worse; Duel Monsters could actually start coming through. It would start with the lower ranked ones and as the rips grows then larger ones would come through. We have no clue as to how these rips form though." She glances at Zahur. "Earth, the Key idiots are right. We'd have seen signs of the Shadows if the rip was on this floor."

"See!" Seth exclaims. "Even Yasu agrees!"

"Yeah, and how much do you want to be that the rip will either be in the attic or the basement."

"Oh please," Yasu says. "That would be far too cliché."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**Team Dark-Seer.**

Chizu leads the way through the lowest floor, glancing wearily at the shadows. Ryan brings up the rear and he's the only one who looks even the slightest bit excited about being in the dark. Alexis and Jaden walk closely together in between the two.

"What do you think they're looking for?" Alexis whispers.

Jaden shrugs. "No clue. Maybe we should ask so that we know what to look for."

Alexis nods in agreement. "Good idea. Hey, Chizu?"

Chizu looks back at Jaden and Alexis, her blue eyes glowing in the darkness. "Yeah? What's up?"

"What exactly are we looking for?" Alexis asks.

Chizu sighs and wracks her bran on ways to explain what they're doing. Then she remembers a phone call she got from her dad. "You two are key keepers, right? Two of the seven?" She asks.

Ryan perks up, his eyes glittering in the darkness as he blends more in with the darkness. Then he walks ahead of them so he can keep a better lookout and hear the conversation better.

Jaden and Alexis both nod. Both of them are now on guard seeing as how one of their theories (technically, it's Chazz's theory) about the Larks is that some of them are Shadow Riders.

"My friends and I, we have many titles." Chizu continues. "But our main duty is to maintain the barrier that separates the Shadow Realm from our own. We were sent to this academy because we found that there was a rip in the barrier around here. That rip is here in this building."

Up ahead, Ryan stops and reaches for his deck. His brown and lilac eyes narrow as he peers ahead into the darkness. "Chizu. Call in the others."

The other three stare at the brunette in either shock or surprise. None of them have ever heard him sound so serious. Chizu is the first to react and she grabs the walkie talkie she has.

"This is team Dark-Seer reporting from the basement. We've got something down here."

/./Team Fire-Void. We're on our way././ Suma's voice comes through the device.

/./Aqua-Earth. We're on our way././ Yasu says.

/./Team Thunder-Shadow././ Now it's Liam, for some strange reason. He must have stolen the walkie talkie from Maiko. /./Ready or not, here we come/./

Sure enough, Maiko can soon be heard yelling, "Liam, give me that!" through the walkie talkie.

Everyone not in team Thunder-Shadow sweat drops.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Soon the groups have joined together and they're walking through the basement together. Ryan, Chizu, and Jaden are in the lead and Maiko, Amane, Bastian, and Chazz bring up the rear.

"Hey, Zahur?" Liam whispers to his twin. "Why are they all with us?" He gestures toward Alexis in Zane, but means all of the non-Larks.

"Chizu suggested it." Zahur replies. "I'm not sure exactly why she wanted them to come, but she mentioned it might be for the best."

Liam frowns thoughtfully. "Maybe she had a vision? No. Nevermind. The items haven't been working correctly so that can't be it. Maybe she got a phone call from Uncle Seto or Uncle Yami or someone."

It goes without saying that the true leaders of all of this are Yami and Seto, however much the CEO tries to deny his past. Because of this, the leadership roles for the Larks fall on Suma, Chizu, and at times Yukio.

A loud roar pierces the air, stopping all thoughts, conversation, and forward movement.

"W-what was that?" Syrus stutters.

"It sounded like a dragon. Maybe there's a duel going on." Zane says.

A second roar makes the basement shake ("Since when do duel monsters make whole buildings shake!" Chazz exclaims.) and both Ammon and Chizu go pale and yell, "Shadow!" before running past the others into the darkness.

"The hell?" Jono and Seth both mutter.

Suma curses and turns to Amane, who typically picks up the role of second-in-command when Chizu isn't around. "Get everyone back and make sure they don't get close to either me or Liam." Then she turns to Liam. "Sparky, help me get some light in here."

Liam grins at the prospect of being able to use his power. "Well it's about time!" He quickly tosses the Millennium Rod to Zahur, who easily catches it. Then he walks over to an electric socket and pulls a paperclip out of his pocket.

"At least it's not a hairpin this time." Maiko mumbles, making Seth and Jono both snicker at the thought.

"What is he doing?" Alexis asks. "That's dangerous."

Amane makes sure everyone stays away from Liam at least five feet. "He'll be just fine. Just stay back away from him so that you don't get hurt." As she says this Liam sticks one end of the paperclip into the electric socket and begins drawing electrical energy from it. The others watch in amazement as he makes the energy flow along the surface of his skin. He stops when his entire body glows from pure electrical energy.

"Bwahahaha! Just call me Electric Man!" He exclaims.

Suma rolls her eyes. "I think we'll stick with sparky. Although, 'the human light bulb' might work too." Then she pulls out a lighter and flicks it on and off several times until there's a rather large fireball in her left hand.

"Pyro…" Liam grumbles, seeing the look in the oldest girl's eyes.

And so they set off into the darkness with the amazing human light bulb and the pyromaniac magician in the lead.

When they get to the area where the rip is, they find Chizu straining to restrain a large pepper-scaled dragon that has eyes that keep flickering between red and blue. Ammon is off to the side curled up into a ball because of the powerful amount of raw Shadow Magic that permeates the room. Ryan even shudders from the force.

"Non-Larks stand back!" Suma orders, allowing the flames to form the shape of a bow and arrow. She carefully shoots the flame arrow up to the chandelier and the rest of the fire automatically follows. Meanwhile, Liam allows the electrical energy he collect to go up to the chandelier as well. Now that the room is bathed in some light, they can begin.

"Key, Rod, and Ring to my left!" Suma orders. "Eye, Scales, ad Necklace to my right! Chizu, toss to Necklace to Maiko!"

Chizu quickly unclips the item from around her neck and tosses it to the blonde girl all without taking her eyes off the dragon in front of her. Maiko catches the Necklace, puts it on, and quickly takes her place between Ryan, who has the scales, and Yasu, who currently has the eye since her brother is unmoving.

On Suma's right are Seth and Jono, Zahur and Liam, and Amane.

Suma lifts up the puzzle and then the items begin to glow one-by-one. A golden light shoots out from each item and the beams meet in midair and spread out to cover the area to rip is across. Slowly the light begins to dissipate as the energy from the items sews up the tear. Then everything goes black as a strong, sudden wind blows out the fire.

"Oi, where'd the light go?" Jono asks loudly. "Liam, Suma, can't you guys give us some light?"

"There's no electrical energy around here." Liam speaks up. "If we weren't underground in a place with no electric sockets then it'd be a different story."

"I lost my lighter somewhere." Suma announces. "It must have fallen when we were running."

There's silence for a moment while every tries to think of what to do.

"I found a rock! Here, Suma, catch!"

-THUD-

"Ouch! Ryan, that hit my head!"

"Sorry, Yasu."

"And what the heck is a rock going to do exactly?" Suma asks.

There's once again silence.

"Okay, forget the lighter and any form of subtlety we have left." Suma says, frustration laced in her voice. A snap can be heard and a huge fireball appears out of nowhere. The pyro Muto smirks. "Now I feel much better."

"All right,  _Roy_. (2) Stop showing off and get us out of here." Maiko says. "Which way are we going."

"Wait," Chizu speaks up.

Everyone looks over at the raven-haired teen and they're all shocked to see her stroking the snout of the dragon.

"Shadow says that he'll take us out." Chizu says softly. "He came here to investigate the rip on Aunt Tama's orders and has been stuck here since. He wants to apologize for any trouble he's caused."

"There's no way I'm getting anywhere near it." Chazz mutters.

Chizu glares at Chazz, having heard what he said. "Then you can find your own way out." She says coldly. She then deftly climbs onto the dragon's head and seats herself between his two horns. "Relax guys, he's harmless." She says, noticing the worried expressions on everyone's face.

"Yeah," Jono starts in a joking tone. "except for the claws-"

"the fangs-" Seth says.

"the horns-"

"the tail-"

"the spikes-"

"the-"

"Put a sock in it." Chizu tells them.


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8: War of Snow_

Months have passed since the kids sealed up the rip and they're still at Duel Academy. It's now winter and there's already a little over two feet of snow on the ground. Already the Larks have had a huge snowball fight that started just by Chizu throwing a snowball at Ryan.

Most of the other Duel Academy kids have headed home for the holidays and so only a few remain at the school The Larks make up a little over half of these few.

Since it's now December there have been several birthdays. Of the adults: Ryou, Seto, Mai have celebrated their birthdays. The kids who have had birthdays are Ammon (now 16), Liam and Zahur (now 15), and Seth, Jono, and Maiko (now 16). Salim and Malik both have birthdays coming up and are actually on the same day.

Also since it's December and because most of the students have gone home, Chancellor Shepherd is allowing the family members of the Larks to come visit. Needless to say, the kids are excited.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Wake up!" Ryan and Liam chorus as they burst into Seth, Amane, and Suma's dorm room.

"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Ryan chants as he jumps onto Amane's bed. Obviously Chizu is the only one able to even remotely control him.

Amane shrieks and falls off her bed while Suma and Seth both groan and throw a pillow at either Ryan or Liam.

The two hyperactive boys eventually drag the others into the realm of the living and get them to get dressed before dragging the three Slifers out into the snow.

"Dashing through the snow, happily we go," Ryan sings in a loud voice, attracting a lot of attention. "Scaring little children, and creating havoc!"

"Do you think he knows he's out of tune?" Liam whispers.

Suma snorts and rolls her eyes while Amane smiles and Seth grins. "Probably not." The brunette says.

They soon reach the main building of Duel Academy and inside they find the rest of the Larks along with Bastian and Alexis watching Chazz and Jaden duel over something or other. The five join the rest of their group, but soon they all grow bored. That is, until their family members begin to arrive.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"I should have known you'd all be here."

Suma is the first to recognize the voice as it's her who squeals as she turns around and runs forward to hug her dad. "Daddy!"

Yugi laughs and pats Suma on the head. "Nice to see you too." Then he yells out the open door for the others. "Guys! They're in here!"

Chazz and Jaden stop their duel as more people begin entering the room. Soon just about all of the members of the Ishtar, Bakura, Muto, Wheeler, and "Shirozaki" families have filled the room and have separated into little family groups.

"Jaden! Chazz! Alexis! Bastian!" Suma yells over the noise. "Come over here! I want you to meet my parents!" Her initial shock of seeing her father (Yami) now as a girl has worn off since he looks just about the same as he used to. In fact, it's hard to tell he's a girl unless you're looking closely. The only reason Suma found out is because Yugi told her they're trying to have a baby.

The four non-Larks slowly make their way through the crowd to the small Muto family.

"Guys, this is my dad, Yugi, and my other dad, Yami." She says proudly. "Dad, daddy, these are my friends Jaden Yuki, Chazz Princeton, Alexis Rhodes, and Bastian Misawa. They're only part of the group that helped up; the others went home."

Yugi smiles. "It's nice to meet you all."

While the four are getting over the surprise of their friend having two dads, Yami looks at Jaden for a moment with a puzzled frown on his face. Then he remembers why the brunette looks so familiar. "You're the one who Winged Kuriboh chose."

Jaden grins. "Yeah, that's right! But… I thought you were Yugi."

Yugi and Yami exchange amused glances. "We get that a lot." Yami says.

"Guys! Over here!" Seth interrupts, waving his arms in the air.

Eventually Jaden, Alexis, Chazz, and Bastian get introduced to everyone's family with the exception of Chizu's family.

"Hey guys, this is my mom." Chizu introduces. "My little brother Yukio is around here somewhere and my dad and uncle couldn't make it. Mom, this is Jaden Yuki, Alexis Rhodes, Bastian Misawa, and Chazz Princeton."

Serenity's eyes widen for a fraction of a second when she hears Chazz's last name and then she smiles warmly. "It's nice to meet all of you. I hope she hasn't caused too much trouble."

"Not at all!" Jaden says cheerfully. "Besides, a little excitement won't kill you!"

"Speak for yourself…" One of the other boys mutter. It's hard to tell which one with the level of noise in the large room.

"CHIIIIIIIIZZZZZUUUUUUU!"

Out of nowhere a purple blur comes and tackles Chizu to the ground. Startled, the others take a step back.

Chizu groans and pokes the younger girl in the shoulder. "Ni, what are you doing here?"

The purple haired girl sits up and grins, her mint green eyes sparkling in amusement. "Daddy wanted to visit Aunt Tama and momma wanted to visit Aunt Ash. So that's why I'm here, 'Zu."

"Wonderful." Chizu grumbles sarcastically.

The other girl gasps and her expression turns to one of hurt. "Your harsh word wounds me, dear friend."

Chizu rolls her eyes and gets to her feet. With a sigh she helps her friend up and then introduces the four to the final member of the Larks. "Guys, this is Ebony Mizu. Ebony…" And so we once again go through introducing four of the seven key keepers.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

By the end of the day, the four non-Larks are extremely confused and tired. This works out for the best for Chizu, since they don't have time to ask her about her dad.

Later that night the parents meet with Chancellor Shepherd, Professor Banner, and Dr. Crowler. Joey, Ashling, Tama, and Holly are talking to Professor Banner. Ashling has Pharaoh in her arms and is talking to the feline more than the Professor. The others, with the exception of Yugi, Yami, Serenity, and Ryou, are talking to Dr. Crowler who suddenly has nothing but nice things to say about their kids. Yugi, Yami, Serenity, and Ryou are talking to Chancellor Shepherd.

Then the door opens and Seto steps into the office.

"Well it's about time!" Tama exclaims. "Where have you been, Seto? You missed meeting Jaden Yuki!"

"There was something I had to see to." Seto tells her. "What did I miss?"

Tama grins. "Oh, the usual. The kids have been causing trouble: skipping class, suffering random outbursts, sleeping in class, being their normal strange selves, and yet still managing to pass their classes with flying colors.

"Mr. Kaiba, may I ask what brings you here?" Dr. Crowler asks, both nervous and excited about meeting another one of the top duelists in the world.

Seto ignores Crowler in favor of directing a comment to Holly and Marik. "Your son is a horrible influence on Chizu."

"I think it goes both ways." Yume mutters to Damian, who snorts and then nods in agreement.

Before the end of the little meeting, Crowler has passed out from the shock of finding out that 11 of his students are the children of some of the greatest duelists in the world.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The next morning a massive snowball fight erupts between the Larks and their parents when Liam accidentally hits Joey with a snowball. Somehow they get their powers mixed up in the fight and so there are now bolts of lightning, shadow balls, and other things flying around along with the snowballs.

They are forced to stop when some of the other Duel Academy kids who stayed start to walk around outside. However, Ryan and Chizu do manage to nail Seto in the head before the game ends.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Over in England Mokuba boredly looks out the window of his house and watches the falling snow. Surrounding him are gifts in various stages of being wrapped and in the corner of the room is a small, decorated Christmas tree with several presents already under it.

-Ding dong!-

Mokuba tears his gaze away from the window and looks puzzled at the door.  _'Am I expecting someone?'_ The doorbell rings again and so he gets up and carefully steps around all the objects littering the floor and goes to answer the door. He blinks in surprise when he finds Rose, Selene, and Frank standing at his door. "Oh… hello."

"Big brother! Come caroling with us!" Selene says, running forward and hugging Mokuba's legs. "Please." She begs, using her version of the puppy-dog eyes on him.

Mokuba smiles. "I can't resist that look." He says and then he grabs his coat off the wall and puts it on. "Alright, lets go."

"I hope we didn't interrupt anything, Mokuba-san." Frank says.

"Nothing big. I was just wrapping presents to send to my family back home. I'll get it done later." Mokuba tells him.

Frank sighs. "You're procrastinating again, Mokuba-san."

Rose rolls her eyes as they come to the end of the driveway and start getting into her van. "I should have known that you two know one another. But Mokuba, why is there a 'san' added onto your name?"

"I'm from Japan, didn't you know that?" Mokuba asks. "Adding 'san' onto the end of a name is polite. It's almost the same as adding 'mister' or 'misses' before a name." He explains in the simplest terms possible.

The four of them are soon in the van and Frank is driving to the selected neighborhood. Rose is in the back with her sister and Mokuba is up front.

"What's 'brother' in Japanese?" Rose asks curiously.

"Nii-san." Frank and Mokuba say at the same time.

Selene giggles. "Nii-san!"

While Rose tries to shush her sister, Frank asks, "San is more polite, so why have you always called me 'Frank-kun'?"

Mokuba laughs. "I thought you were cute!"

Frank takes his eyes off the road to stare at Mokuba. " _What_?"

"Eyes on the road." Mokuba says with a grin. "You heard correctly; I'm bi. (1) It was pretty obvious that you're straight, so I didn't go after you."  _'And then I met Rose…'_

"So why do you still add 'kun' to the end?"

"Do you not want me to?" Mokuba questions. Amusement is laced through his voice. "It's because you would have noticed that something was wrong if I suddenly stopped adding 'kun'."

Frank glances back at the two girls to make sure they're still preoccupied and then looks back at the road. "Why me?"

"You're cute." Mokuba says with a wink. He stifles his laugher when a tinge of pink appears on Frank's cheeks. "You're a nice guy, Frank-kun and you work hard. You're going to make some girl really happy one day."

Frank smiles softly. "Thank you, Mokuba-kun."


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9: Shadow Riders_

"Shepherd says that he suspects the Shadow Riders will strike any time now." Chazz tells the other key-keepers after class one day. "Does anyone have any suspicions about who it could be?"

None of the others have any ideas, but Chazz does have his own suspicions.

"I think one of those new kids are Shadow Riders. They're always whispering to one another and do you remember the whole abandoned dorm thing and the dragon?"

"Chazz, there's no way that they are the Shadow Riders." Alexis says. "For one, they attract far too much attention and trouble. Why would the Shadow Riders want to draw so much attention to themselves?"

"They're the most likely to be Shadow Riders." Chazz retorts. "We should at least make sure it's not any of them."

"Chazz has a point." Professor Banner points out. "Remember children, caution is our friend."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Liam cautiously crawls out onto the tree branch with a rope in one hand. Waiting patiently on the ground are Zahur and Amane.

"Be careful, Liam." The albino girl cautions. "That branch doesn't look too sturdy."

Liam grins. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" He yells down. Then he mumbles under his breath, "I'm gonna die…."

"Hey Amane! Zahur! There you are!"

Startled by the sudden loud noise, Liam falls right off the tree branch and gets tangled up in the rope in the process. The next thing he knows, he's hanging upside down by one foot with all his blood rushing to his head.

Amane and Zahur both laugh at the expression on the blonde's face until Ryan comes bouncing up. Or is he skipping? It's hard to tell with Ryan.

While the three of them are laughing, Liam grumbles something about evil relatives before reaching up and pulling a dagger out of one of his boots. He keeps one hand on the rope so he doesn't fall and then cuts himself loose. Once his foot is free, he lets go of the rope and lands deftly on the ground.

"Ha ha ha, it's so funny." Liam says sarcastically to the three. "What do you want, Ryan?"

Ryan abruptly stops laughing and his expression turns serious. "We've got a bit of a problem. Jaden and his friends suspect us of being something called the 'Shadow Riders' because of the whole 'lets-take-them-with-us-when-we-seal-the-rip' thing."

"But we're not 'Shadow Riders'." Amane says in confusion. "We're not even true Guardians yet. Well, Suma is since she's sixteen already, but the rest of us aren't."

Ryan scowls, his eyes darkening. "Tell that to them."

Liam is the first to sense Ryan's rising energy and temper and so it's he who lays a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Relax, Ryan. We'll get it cleared up. Lets go find Suma and Chizu and see how they want to handle this."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The entire group of Larks find themselves assembled in Chancellor Shepherd's office less than an hour later with the Key keepers sitting or standing in front of them.

"I told you we shouldn't have gotten them involved." Jono hisses to Chizu.

"Don't blame me!" Chizu exclaims. "My dad's the one who said it would be a good idea to get them to come with us and help us."

Yasu sighs. "Please allow Zahur and I to explain," She says calmly.

"No," Suma interrupts. "Chizu and I can handle this, Yasu. It's our fault they're suspicious of us. We should have explained ourselves before sealing up the rip."

The oldest and youngest of the Larks step forward, Chizu having more trouble because Ryan won't let go of her hand. The other Larks fall back slightly to give their leaders room.

"I'm not sure exactly why you believe us to be these 'Shadow Riders', as there's eleven of us and seven of them." Suma begins. "We've only gained one title as a group and it's not something as stupid as the 'Shadow Riders'. Back at home when we're joined by our siblings we're known as the Larks."

Alexis looks questioningly at the Muto child. "You've used that term before, but what does it mean?"

"Back home we tend to get in a lot of trouble…" Suma says vaguely.

It's Bastian who recalls what the word 'lark' means, having read it in the dictionary and thesaurus once. "Lark is another word for 'prank'. It means 'a carefree or spirited adventure' or 'a harmless prank'." He recites.

"Back to our topic," Now it's Chizu's turn. "The reason we can summon monsters without the use of duel discs is because we inherited our parents duties to keep the barrier between this plane and the Shadow Realm intact. The Shadow Realm is the place where the duel monster live and normal humans are destroyed by the shadows. Usually our parents would take care of something like this, but they thought it'd be a good experience for us." She grins and glances back at the other Larks. "Personally, I think all of our neighbors had to bribe or blackmail them to get us out of our neighborhoods for a while."

The other Larks make sounds of agreement and then fall silent once again.

"So… you're not the Shadow Riders?" Syrus asks.

Suma laughs. "Not at all! In fact, we're almost like the opposite of them if they're as bad as you're making them out to be. What are they anyway?"

Chancellor Shepherd frowns. "Unfortunately, they're a group who are after the three Beast cards hidden here at this school. There are seven keys to unlock it, and the strongest duelists at this school each have one."

Chizu rapidly pales and curses under her breath. "Excuse me for a moment." Everyone watches as the blue-eyed girl walks out of the room. Then they hear her screaming,  _"DAMN YOU PEGASUS!"_  There's the sound of something shattering and then silence. Chizu creeps back into the room seconds later, her expression carefully masked.

"Feel better?" Seth asks.

Chizu glares at the brunette in reply.

"I guess not."

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Yugi yawns as he snuggles into Yami's side. The past few months have been a little stressful for the two of them; first Yami had to battle morning sickness for a while and recently he had to deal with Yugi being gone for a month. Now that the younger man is back, Yami's not letting go of him. Literally.

Yugi groans when the phone rings. "Yami," He whispers softly. "I've got to answer the phone. It could be important."

Yami grumbles something under his breath and firmly wraps his arms around Yugi. "Stay."

"Yami, please let me get up. I'll be right back." Yugi pleads, unwilling to try and wiggle free from his husbands grip. The last time he did that they both fell off the couch and Yami almost got hurt.

The phone stops ringing. Yami smirks and opens one violet eye. "Now you'll stay."

The phone begins ringing right after Yami says this. Yugi gives his other half a look. "Yami."

Yami just mumbles something and kisses the top of Yugi's head before closing his eyes as if to go back to sleep.

"Atemu!" Yugi complains, using his darker half's true name for the first time.

Yami reluctantly unwraps his arms from around Yugi, allowing the smaller to get up and finally answer the phone.

"Hello? Hi, Seto! No, Yami just wouldn't let me get up."

Yami sighs and resigns himself to lay there and listen to Yugi's side of the conversation in an attempt to figure out what Seto wants.

"I got back yesterday night and Yami attacked and wouldn't let go once I got through the door." He blushes because of something Seto says. "Seto! Not like that!" There's a long pause. "I haven't had time to check. Why didn't you ask Tama, Malik, or Ryou?" There's another pause. "Oh. That reminds me; where's Duke at? He was suppose to stay here with Yami, I mean, it is his house. America! What for? Pegasus? He's not trying to cause more trouble, is he? Oh, I forgot about that contest." There's another long pause. "I'll check as soon as I can. Who has the cell phone there? Chizu, Maiko, and Zahur? Alright. Yeah, I'll let you know. Thanks, Seto. Bye." Yugi hangs up before Seto can ask to talk to Yami, not in the mood to watch his other half's patience be tested or to watch the phone be banished to the Shadow Realm again.

"What'd he want?" Yami asks as Yugi lays back down on the couch with him.

Yugi sighs. "He wants me to do a scan over the island Duel Academy is on to make sure there are no more rips. He's worried that some 'Shadow Riders' are going to make more holes and endanger the students. I'm suppose to inform Chizu, Maiko, or Zahur if there are any and then call Seto." He yawns after saying this and Yami wraps his arms back around Yugi and pulls him close.

"Sleep, aibou. I'll wake you up for lunch and then you can check the island." Yami says.

Yugi closes his eyes. "What if you fall asleep?"

Yami kisses Yugi on the cheek. "I promise that I'll wake you up."

Yugi smiles softly. "Okay…"

Within minutes the two of them are asleep.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Have you noticed how the teachers are now determined to keep our group split up?" Liam asks over lunch. "It's amusing!"

Maiko rolls her eyes. "Liam, you find a lot of things amusing. It's no surprise that you find this amusing."

Ryan sighs dejectedly. "I want to eat lunch with Chizu…" He murmurs.

The others ignore the love struck half-psycho.

"I find it more annoying than anything." Yasu says. "Now I'm stuck with only you guys for company and, no offense Maiko, but it's really hard to hold a smart conversation with you guys."

"Yeah, Zahur's much better at that." Liam admits.

"You'd think they'd want to keep us together though." Jono says, bringing the conversation back.

"Well, the danger is over. We've completed what we came to do and now the only thing left that we can do is cause a little trouble." Maiko says.

The door to the Ra Yellow cafeteria slams open and a black and blue blur zooms over to the table that Ryan, Jono, Maiko, Liam, Ammon, and Yasu are sitting at. It's Chizu.

"Chizu!" Ryan happily exclaims, jumping up and hugging her giddily.

Chizu giggles and hugs him back before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hi, Ryan." She then waves at the others as Ryan sits down and pulls her into his lap. "Hey guys."

Yasu raises an eyebrow. "As nice as it is to see you, why are you here and how did you get past the teachers?"

"I ran." The younger girl replies. "As to why I'm here, I've got some not-so-good news. Uncle Yugi called to say that several small rips have appeared because of activity from the Shadow Riders. It shouldn't be too hard to fix them though. It should just take one of two of us just to seal up one."

"Great, more work." Ammon grumbles. "I wanted to just goof off and play pranks on each other for the rest of the time here!"

Yasu hits him in the head. "Get over it, you big baby."

"I need to go inform A'ne, Seth, and Suma. Anyone want to come?" Chizu asks.

Ryan waves one hand in the air energetically. "Ooo! Me!"

Chizu laughs and then gets up. Together the two lovebirds skip out of the cafeteria singing, "We're off to see the wizard!"

There's silence for a moment.

Jono's eyes light up and he grins. "Hey, Liam. Remember that little project of ours?"

Liam blinks. "Which one?"

"You know;  _that_ one."

Liam grins. "Oh!  _That_ one! Yeah, it'll be the perfect time to get it out!"

"Get what out?" Maiko cautiously asks. "Or do I not want to know?"

Jono laughs. "Don't worry, you'll like this particular project. If it works correctly it should make our job a bit easier."

"What is it?" Ammon asks, his interest peaked.

Jono and Liam exchange grins. "It's…"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"The Shadow Sensor!" Liam and Jono exclaim, holding up what looks t be a watch.

"A watch?" Yasu says blankly.

Liam and Jono do a double take at the object they're holding and sweat drop. "Oops, wrong project." Jono mumbles apologetically.

Liam shuffles through his small book bag quickly and pulls out the correct project. "Here it is!" He holds up a Duel Monster card proudly.

"A Duel Monster card?" Amane asks skeptically. "Liam, have you completely lost your marbles?"

"Yes, actually." The strawberry blonde replies. "Although I know you have some of them and I'd like them back when we get home."

Jono rolls his eyes and plucks the card from Liam's hand. "This isn't just a card. Actually, it isn't a card at all. It's plastic." He gently taps the card. "It has a password to activate it. The password is 'Elemental Spirits'." The gadget makes a whirring noise and then a hologramic map of the island appears. Dark, shadowy patches show where the holes are.

"Wow, clever." Zahur says, impressed with the project. "Does it do anything else?"

"Yeah, you can set it to 'buzz' to tell when a new hole has formed." Liam says cheerfully.

"You can also zoom in to get the exact place the rip is at." Jono says proudly.

"Cool… can I have one?" Chizu asks hopefully.

Jono and Liam both laugh.

"Sure. There's only four though; so one each for Slifer and Obelisk and two for Ra since we have a bigger group." Liam says.

"My, what's this I hear? Are you finally using your head?" Zahur teases. He immediately has to duck as Liam tries to hit him and then he takes off running.

Liam grins, happy that his twin is acting goofy for once, and runs after him shouting, "I'm gonna get you, momma's boy!"

"You're even more of a momma's boy, Li!" Zahur yells back.

The others laugh at the two and watch them run around. Spring is defiantly on its way. 


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10: Spirit Day Fiasco_

It's a beautiful day at Duel Academy. Spring has hit the island head-on so now everything is green, flowery, and-

"ACHOO!" Yasu sneezes.

Yasu and Jono's allergies have just begun to act up.

"Tissue?" Amane offers, having stocked up on the soft item just for her two friends.

Yasu nods and takes the tissue and wipes her teary violet eyes before blowing her nose, which is already red.

"You look horrible, sis." Ammon comments, earning himself a glare from his older sister.

Suma sighs and mentally begins the countdown for the inevitable. '5... 4... 3... 2... 1...'

-SPLASH!-

"Ahhhhgggg! Sis!" Ammon exclaims, pushing his now-wet white and dark red bangs out of his eyes. "What was that for?"

Every year it's the same thing; Yasu and Jono's allergies hit them full force, leaving them tired and extremely irritable. Especially Yasu, who almost never loses her temper. In fact, the only times that happens is during allergy season and for practically the entire month of February because of Valentines Day. Just about any other time she's as calm as can be.

A month and a half has passed since the Shadow Riders first struck and Atticus, Alexis's brother, has been awake for a little over a week. On this particular spring day they've been celebrating Duel Monster Spirit Day at the academy and everyone is excited. Several students are even dressing up as their favorite Duel Monster, or, in Jaden's case, a combination of their favorite Duel Monster's. The Larks are no different.

Maiko has chosen to dress up as a Harpy Lady and is pulling off the look quite well. Suma has dressed up as the Dark Magician Girl and Ammon is the Dark Magician, much to everyone's amusement. Liam is a "humanized" Chimera: The Flying Mythical Beast and Zahur merely outlined his eyes and kohl and dressed up like his dad. (Malik's Duelist City outfit) Amane has managed to bring together a Silent Magician costume and Ryan and Chizu, the only other of the Larks dressing up, are dressed as the Dragon Guardian and King of Thieves. The others, Yasu, Seth, and Jono, are just taking the day to wear something other than the school's uniforms. Yasu and Jono are just too miserable to dress up and Seth says that wearing a costume would restrict his movement.

Zahur, Liam, Seth, and Suma have set up a cute little stand and are selling onigiri and cookies. Amane stands beside the stand, eating a few of the onigiri and talking to her four friends. Chizu and Ryan are off causing trouble somewhere and the others are in random places.

"Suma, you know what would be neat?" Liam asks, adjusting one of his horns.

Suma takes a moment before answering. "A variety of things come to mind, but what are you thinking?"

"Let Dark Magician Girl come out and have a little fun." Liam says. "You mentioned her being a little restless lately, so why not let her out while just about everyone is dressed up as a Duel Monster?"

Suma considers this for a minute. "You know… that's not a bad idea. She'd probably try and find some way to come out anyway. Any suggested places to summon her?"

"How about behind the stand?" Amane suggests. "No one should see you back there."

Suma smiles. "Thanks, A'ne." Then she walks around to the back. Seconds later the three onigiri and cookie makers and Amane feel a hint of Shadow Magic, but it's quickly gone. A minute later Suma walks back around to the front with a giggling Dark Magician Girl behind her.

"Hey Mana, long time no see." Amane says as she grabs another onigiri off the counter. "You like our outfits?"

Dark Magician Girl giggles harder. "I feel very honored that Suma has dressed as me and I'm sure Silent Magician will be happy to hear you're dressing as him."

"How's Mahaado?" Seth asks.

Dark Magician Girl's giggles fade and she smiles. "He's fine. He did warn me to be careful out here though and to take it easy. Is there any particular reason why you called me?"

"Nope." Suma shakes her head. "I just figured you'd like to get out a bit is all. I'll be here if you need me."

"Alright. See you later, everyone!" She says before skipping off to find something to do.

"Was that wise?" Zahur questions.

"She'll be fine." Suma says dismissively. "How much trouble could she possibly cause?"

Zahur raises an eyebrow. "Suma, this is Mana that we're talking about, right? The same Mana that turned Uncle Yugi into a girl? The same Mana who goofed up that hair color changing spell and turned Liam into a kitten for a week?"

"Oh dear…"

There's silence for a moment and then that silence is broken by Atticus running past them with a camera and Alexis running after him yelling at him to give her the camera.

Amane's eyes light up and she quickly eats the onigiri she's holding and then rushes off after the two with a quick, "Later!"

Liam watches her run after them with a puzzled look on his face while Suma, Ammon, and Zahur exchange knowing glances. Liam notices this.

"Guys, did I miss something?" He asks.

"We have a small theory," Suma says. "that Amane has a crush on Atticus."

"She's not going to acknowledge it, of course." Ammon says. "So she's going to pass it off as wanting to be his friend and get to know him better."

Liam looks between the two, about ready to call them crazy and then looks to his twin for help.

Zahur sighs. "It's just what we think, Liam. It doesn't make it true. However, if you think about it, this is the first time Amane has held even a remote interest in a guy romantically. It could just be that he has a prankster-like quality about him and that intrigues her. We have never really know and you know Amane will avoid the subject like the plague."

Suma nods in agreement. "Yeah. She takes more after Uncle Ryou than she does Aunt Tama. Uncle Ryou's a bit like that too."

The four fall silent once more.

"So," Liam decides to change the subject. "how many people do you think will come to our stand?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Mmm… it's such a beautiful day." Mana Bakura murmurs. She opens her brown eyes and looks over to her best friend and cousin, Salim Ishtar. "Don't you think so, Salim?"

Salim nods in agreement. "Yeah. I love spring. It's my favorite season of them all!"

Mana giggles. "Yeah. Hey, you wanna go see if the others want to go swimming?"

"Sure." Salim replies. "Umm… who's going to ask who?"

Mana thinks for a moment. "Well… I'll ask Yukio, Matsu, and Taro and you ask 'Lia, Kevin, and Ebony. They should be in 'Lia's room. At least, that's where they were headed when I last saw them."

Salim smiles. "Thanks, Mana.

"Mmm hmm…" Mana stands up and stretches out her limbs before holding her hand out to Salim to pull him up. "See you in a few!" She chirps happily before bounding off to find her older brother, Yukio, and Matsu.

Salim merely walks off to find his older sister, Kevin, and Ebony.

Less than a half hour later the eight kids are outside by the river that runs past the Ishtar house. Mana is wearing a blue one-piece swimsuit and her red and black hair is pulled up into a ponytail. Ophelia is wearing a black two piece and red shorts. She has braided her sandy blonde hair to prevent it from getting horribly tangled. Matsu is wearing a cute two piece swimsuit and she has braided her hair as well. Ebony is wearing a bright purple one-piece with pink polka dots on it and has pulled her purple hair into two ponytails.

Kevin is wearing green swim trunks, which makes Ophelia call him "Christmas obsessed". (He has red hair) Yukio and Taro are both wearing navy blue swim trunks and Taro has braided his hair so it will stay out of the way. Salim is wearing black swim trunks and his sister jokingly braided a few pieces of his black hair.

"So who's going in first?" Matsu asks, staring at the water.

Ebony glances at Kevin and grins. Then she "discretely" shoves the red-head into the water. Seconds later Ophelia shoves Ebony into the water to get revenge for her best friend and then Matsu uses her control over the wind to blow everyone except for herself into the water.

"Sweet Isis this water is cold!" Ophelia exclaims. "Windy, what was that for!"

"That, dear cousin, was for the prank that you, Kevin, and Taro pulled on me the other week. You know, the one where you had Taro make up the strangest dream possible for me to have and then you two acted it out when I woke up?" Matsu says. "As for everyone else, I just felt like it."

"Aren't  _you_ suppose to be the  _sane_ one!" Yukio exclaims.

Matsu grins. "Sorry, that role has been passed to Salim since he's now Li- iiieeeeee!"

-SPLASH!-

The others look to Mana, about to congratulate her on performing a spell correctly, but the young magician just shakes her head. They all then look to Salim, who blushes dark red.

"It just didn't seem fair that she knocked all of us into the water and most likely wouldn't have gotten in herself." He explains.

"Oh Ra… we've finally corrupted Salim! Yay!" Ophelia yells cheerfully.

The others sweat drop and then Ebony splashes Ophelia and says, "You wish, 'Lia."

Ophelia splashes Ebony back and this results in a huge splash 'n dunk war breaking out, during which Matsu uses her control over the wind to get everyone good. In retaliation, Mana and Salim combine their powers and use them to get back at the wind user while the others splash her the best they can.

All's well and normal in Domino City.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Back at Duel Academy Suma sits down on a bench beside the Dark Magician Girl to talk to her favorite Duel Monster. "So, did you have fun today?"

Dark Magician Girl nods happily. "I met so many of my fans today and got to duel Jaden Yuki! It was awesome!"

Suma laughs. "So who won?"

"Jaden." Dark Magician Girl replies. "I can't say I'm surprised he won. He's really good, you know?"

"Yeah, he is. Both my dads think he could pose a challenge to them." Suma says. "So, did you do anything else besides meet your fans and duel Jaden?"

Dark Magician Girl thinks for a moment. "Well… I did meet a boy in Slifer. The one with light blue hair and is shorter than you."

"That's Syrus. He's one of Jaden's friends."

"He's nice."

"All of Jaden's friends are." She scowls. "Except for maybe Chazz."

Dark Magician Girl giggles. "I'm sure he has a kind soul, little princess. Now, can you open a portal so I can go back? I'm sure that Mahaado is worried about me by now."

Suma nods and quickly opens a portal. "See you, Mana."

With a grin and a small wave, Mana walks through the portal and back to her home in the Shadow Realm. Once the duel monster is safely through the portal, Suma carefully seals the hole and heads to her dorm room to get some sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter 11: Reaching the End_

Amane carefully folds her last shirt and lays it on top of her other shirts. Then she takes her framed photograph of her family and gently lays it on top of her clothes. With a soft sigh she closes and locks her suitcase and then turns her attention to her two roommates.

Seth appears to be having some trouble with his suitcase, as it keeps flying open and scattering his clothes around the room. This apparently amuses Suma, as, instead of packing her own suitcase, she's watching Seth fight with his.

' _I hope the others are having better luck.'_  Amane things before scanning the room for anything she may have forgotten.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chizu happily hums as she skips around her room collecting her little dragon figurines that she brought with her. Zahur sits on Chizu's neatly made bed reading a book. His suitcase sets beside him on the floor.

"Hey, Zahur?" Chizu asks.

"Hmm?"

"Do you regret coming here?" She's no longer humming and her expression is carefully blank.

Zahur looks up in surprise and sets his book to the side. "What do you mean?"

Chizu sighs and lovingly fingers one of her few crystal dragons. "I mean, you missed an entire year of school by coming here. Isn't that going to set back your plans? Your goals? Your dream?"

Zahur suddenly chuckles.

"What's so funny?" Chizu demands almost angrily. Here she is being serious for once and he finds it amusing!

Zahur stops chuckling and looks up at Chizu, his blue eyes glistening in amusement. "Chizu, I've been reading books and taking lessons, quizzes, and tests online for the entire year. I'm actually a little ahead if you can believe that."

Chizu stares at her friend in shock. "You have? I never even noticed! I mean, during normal school years you practically work yourself to death with extra assignments for each of your advanced classes and lose sleep over it! You've been perfectly well rested all year. Well, except for when the rest of us kept you up to go over some crazy plan that usually strangely works."

Zahur grins. "Would you believe I can time travel?"

"Did you just crack a random joke?"

"Did I?"

Chizu laughs and soon Zahur joins in. Laughter is contagious with the Larks.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Liam peers under the bed, his lilac eyes searching for anything unusual. He sneezes and sits up straight. "Not under there." He mutters.

Ryan falls from a hole in the ceiling, landing heavily on the ground. "Not in the Shadow Realm."

Somehow, someway, Ryan has lost two of his many precious daggers and Liam has lost one of his few.

Ammon and Jono walk past the door and pause when they see the two looking in every little part of the room that the daggers could possibly be.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Jono asks after a moment.

"We lost our daggers." Ryan says.

Ammon grins and holds up three ornate daggers. "You mean these?"

Ryan practically growls as he pulls one of his less-favorite daggers off of his belt and throws it at Ammon. The youngest Khalid merely ducks and throws the three daggers in Ryan's direction. Ryan jumps out of the way and the daggers imbed themselves in the wall.

"Will you guys stop goofing off?" Yasu asks loudly. "The jet has already arrived and Uncle Seto and Aunt Tama are waiting for us."

Liam carefully tugs the daggers free from the wall and hands two of them to Ryan. "You heard the lady, lets get going."

And so they set off.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Fifteen minutes later all of the Larks are waiting outside of the jet for Seto and Tama to stop talking to Miss Dorothy.

A thought comes to Amane when Maiko and Yasu begin discussing what they're going to do once they get home and the albino turns to face Suma. "I'm going to go say goodbye to the others. Can you take my stuff onto the jet for me?"

Suma frowns. "Amane, that's going to make it harder for you to leave, you know that."

"Please, Suma." Amane begs.

Suma gives in. "Alright. I'll take your stuff, A'ne. Just get back here soon. You know Uncle Seto doesn't like waiting."

Amane hugs her friend and then jogs off to the main Dual Academy building, in which Zane and Jaden are against one another for the graduation duel. She silently slips into the room and locates Alexis, Syrus, Bastian, Atticus, and Chazz sitting in the stands. Chumley isn't with them since he won the card designing contest and is now designing cards for Pegasus. She then makes her way through the stands to the group.

"Hey guys."

The others look away from the duel taking place.

"Hey, Amane. Where's everyone else?" Alexis asks.

"Loading up. We're leaving today. I just came to say goodbye to all of you." Amane says. "Can you tell Jaden and Zane we all say goodbye?"

"Of course."

There's a moment of awkward silence.

"Will you guys be coming back next year?" Syrus asks hopefully.

Amane shakes her head 'no'. "Truthfully, we weren't suppose to ever come here because we're all almost pro's. All of us have been taught by our parents and we've won different tournaments. Suma's usually the overall champion in our group."

"Can't you stay and watch the duel at least?" Alexis asks.

Amane once again shakes her head 'no'. "I just came to say goodbye. If I take too long then Chizu's dad will get ticked and send my mom down here to get me." She hugs everyone except for Chazz and Atticus. Chazz because he glares at her and Atticus because she hasn't gotten to him yet.

"So… I suppose this is goodbye." Atticus says.

Amane smiles sadly. "Don't be silly. This is just a 'see you later'." She quickly hugs him and kisses him on the cheek. Then she whirls around and hugs Chazz, whispering, "I'll miss you too, even if you have been a jerk."

As she's walking away she calls over her shoulder, "If you're ever in Domino City then look us up! Oh, and Chizu's last name isn't 'Shirozaki' it's Kaiba!"

The others jaw's drop and after Amane leaves the arena room Chazz curses.

"I knew Chizu looked familiar." He mutters. "I've met her before. She looks almost exactly like her uncle."

"So her dad is seriously Seto Kaiba?" Alexis asks.

Chazz nods, not trusting himself enough to speak.

"No wonder he wasn't here for Christmas." Bastian muses. "It would have made trouble for all of them."

They all fall silent and watch as Jaden makes the duel a draw instead of allowing Zane to let him win.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

On the BEWD jet:

Zahur sits beside his twin, quietly going over their plans for when they get home. Across from them are Ammon and Yasu, who are looking over the 'World Domination' book that their dad wrote. Behind the two Khalid's are Jono and Seth and across from them are Chizu and Ryan. Directly behind those two is Maiko. The five of them are playing 'I Spy'. Across from Maiko are Suma and Amane who are quietly talking about semi-random things. Then Amane opens her duffle bag and Pharaoh jumps out.

"Pharaoh!" The two girls exclaim in unison.

"Meow." A small glowing sphere escapes Pharaoh's mouth when he meows and it floats up to Amane and Suma's eye level.

"Hello children."

Amane shrieks and attempts to hide behind Suma. "Ghost!"

"Amane! Stop it!" Suma exclaims, slightly freaked out. "Aunt Tama! Help me!"

The door to the cockpit opens and Tama steps out with a puzzled expression on her face. "Amane, what on Earth…?" She sighs when she sees the floating orb and walks forward until she's about two feet from it. "Hello?"

By now this has attracted the attention of everyone on the jet.

"Hello, Mrs. Bakura." The soul says.

"Professor Banner?" Tama questions. "May I ask exactly why you're nothing but a soul?"

Banner is silent for a minute. "When I was younger I cam across a tomb in Egypt and was cursed. I then began dabbling in alchemy and created a new body for myself. When you met me I was nothing more than a homunculus." (1)

"Ah, so that was the strange feeling Yume mentioned." Tama murmurs. "Say, Professor Banner, if there was a chance for you to get an artificial body, would you take it?"

"If I could."

Tama smiles. "My brother and Seto have joined together to try and create an artificial body for Seto's step-brother Noa. (2) I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to create one for you as well. For now, Pharaoh will be your protection."

A feeling of relief comes from Banner's soul. "Thank you."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Never Ending Story

Have you ever looked back and wondered where your life went? Everything has blown by so fast that I can't help but stop and stare in shock. Sixty years ago if you had told me I'd go through all that I've been through I would have looked you straight in the eye and told you you were crazy. Now, however, you'd tell me that I was crazy.

This is the final chapter of my diary, as I hope it will be the last chapter I write. I want to spend my remaining years, however many there are, with my wonderful husband Ryou. I'm also hoping they'll be peaceful years and I won't have to write more.

Ra, so much has happened in my life that it's almost hard to summarize it and keep everything important in tact. However, I will give it a try.

I lived in Domino City until I was seven with my older brother Kiba and my dad. My mom passed away when I was just a year old, so I've been around guys my entire life. My best friends were even guys and they were Damian Mizu, Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, my cousin Yugi, and my brother.

When I was seven we, meaning myself, Kiba, and my dad, moved to England where I met Ryou Bakura. We got along perfectly from the start. I offered him protection from bullies and he'd comfort me and cheer me up when I was down. The first summer after we moved there, he went on a trip with his dad and Damian came over from Japan to visit. That was the summer that Kiba, Damian, my dad, and I went to visit my cousins Malik, Odeon, and Ishizu in Egypt. I think we annoyed Ishizu a little too much though.

Ryou moved away a little after he turned eleven and I never hard from him after that. When I was twelve Damian moved from Domino City, Japan to Virginia in the United States. When I was thirteen I got the Dragon Pendant and the three Chaotic dragons for Christmas. It wasn't until after my fourteenth birthday that I first met Yume.

Two years after that I moved back to Domino city by myself. My dad went to New York in America while Kiba went to spend some time in Egypt. I met Ryou in Domino City, but was angry with him for not writing so I ignored him. I regret that. Malik, Ishizu, and Odeon were also there.

I eventually talked to Ryou and regained my friendship with him. Soon after, I moved in with him. It sounds weird now, but I made complete sense then. He lived all alone and I felt I still needed to protect him. I was also remembering how in England we would sleep over at each others house all the time.

Soon found out that I wasn't the only one with a darker half. Both of my cousins had one and Ryou did as well. I'm not even going to get into how much trouble they've caused, as you've most likely already heard at the very least.

Skipping forward a few years, Ryou and I became engaged during out last year of high school, during which Malik was in America getting to know his betrothed, Ashling Phoenix. That was one hectic year. In fact, that was the year that Mana (Dark Magician Girl) claimed she "accidentally" turned Yugi into a girl and then Yami got Yugi pregnant.

Going forward a little over twelve years, just about all of our group had kids. The oldest was Suma, Yami and Yugi's daughter. Ryou and I had Amane, Taro, and Mana (who was named after the Dark Magician Girl). Malik and Ashling had Zahur and Liam, Ophelia, and Salim. Mariku (Malik's yami) and Holly, who he met in America, had Ryan and Matsu. Mai and Joey had Jono, Seth, and Maiko, and their adopted son Kevin. Seto and Serenity had Chizu and Yukio. Bakura and Yume had Yasu and Ammon. Damian and Riley had Ebony.

Then the older kids were sent to Duel Academy to seal a rip. They borrowed the Millennium Items to do so. Suma, who was the oldest, was sixteen. They spent a little over half a year there and met Jaden Yuki, Zane and Syrus Truesdale, Alexis and Atticus Rhodes, Chumley Huffington, Chazz Princeton, and Bastian Misawa. Each of them, except for Chumley who works for Pegasus, have placed in high ranking positions in tournaments around the world.

Mokuba, after spending nearly a year in England, brought Rose and Selene home to meet the family. The  _whole_ family. Mokuba and Rose married two years after that.

Ryan and Chizu officially became a couple in their second year of high school. They married the summer after they both turned twenty. That same year Amane ran into Atticus at a tournament that Seto hosted and soon after the two of them started dating. They later married and had two kids.

During their high school years, Ophelia and Kevin got a band started. They named themselves the "Elemental Spirits" and their first song was dedicated to their dueling obsessed family members and close friends. The name of their third band member was Rin Nekoki, who was an excellent drummer and songwriter. The three of them made it to the big time and had three albums produced.

The fall after the two of them turned twenty-five, Kevin and Ophelia married.

Now onto a subject I'm sure you all are the most curious about: Yami and Yugi's second child.

Yami had a little boy after months of sending Bakura, Mariku, and Yume to the Shadow Realm along with various household appliances.

The amusement of finding out or seeing the three of them sent to the Shadow Realm time after time did wear off after a while, however the objects sent to the Shadow Realm never ceased to be amusing. We still laugh about them.

The two of them named their son Atemu. He was a perfect mix of the two of them with the classic red and black hair and golden lightning bolt shaped bangs and he had Yami's eyes. However, he wears glasses, pulls back his hair so it doesn't stick out as much, and is taller than both of his dad's and his sister at 5'8".

Atemu is currently a professor at the Advanced Duel Academy that Kiba had build with Seto and Pegasus's help. Two of his colleges are Noa Shirozaki and Daiichi Banner. Pharaoh, nicknamed the "Immortal Cat" is still by his dear professor's side.

Most of the Larks have married and had kids and if I were to list everyone then I would run out of pages and time, so I'll decline and just say a few.

Unsurprisingly, Yukio and Taro got together and got married the year after the banning of gay marriages was lifted. The two of them are planning on adopting a little girl from the same place Mokuba and Seto grew up.

Liam is the only one who isn't married, although he once was. Unfortunately, his wife, Amelia, died in a car crash. He lived in Okinawa with his daughter Ailis and a bunch of cats he rescued or adopted from animal shelters. They have a lovely home out in the middle of the woods and Liam is home schooling Ailis.

That is my family and I couldn't be more proud. There are things I regret doing, but I wouldn't change it. I've noticed that everything happens for a reason, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time.

To whoever is reading this diary/journal of mine, may I offer some friendly advice? Never regret the things you've done and live life to the fullest. Going over regrets will keep you in the past and not allow you to live life to the fullest. I may have had a hectic, chaotic, seemingly impossible life, but I wouldn't change one moment of it.

To my family and dear friends, I will miss you all when I leave. I expect we'll meet again someday; whether in heaven, another universe, or in another life. I leave my journal to immortalize our adventures and hope our story will always be remembered and told.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Two months later, at age seventy-two, Tamashira Yuki Bakura passed away after fighting cancer for seven years." A young woman around the age of twenty-six with snowy-white hair and light pinkish-brown eyes looks around at her class of 6th graders. "That is the story of my grandmother; the Dragon Guardian; the Light of the Princess; the wife of Ryou Bakura; Beloved sister, cousin, daughter, aunt, and friend; wonderful mother of Amane Rhodes, Taro Bakura-Kaiba, and Mana Taikyo; and grandmother of myself, Yuki Rhodes, and my sister Asuka Rhodes. Though she has collected many titles during her life, she is best known merely as, 'Tama'."

The bell rings and none of the kids so much as move, almost shocked by the end of the story.

Yuki, known as Miss Rhodes to her students, smiles softly as her class. "Will you take my grandmothers advice or ignore it? Your assignment for Spring Break is to keep a journal, a diarym or a log of things that happen to you during the break. I will write one myself and when we return we will all read ours out loud to the class. I look forward to hearing about your break when we get back. You are dismissed."

Slowly, the kids gather up their stuff and leave, some of them telling Yuki, "Have a nice break." or a simple, "Bye.". Yuki begins packing up her own stuff once her last student leaves. When she's trying to figure out where to put her grandmother's old journal, something in her pocket beeps. With a sigh, the albino girl pulls it from her pocket and watches as a hologram of her sister pops up.

" _Hey, Yuki!"_  Asuka says cheerfully, her brown eyes shining mischievously.

Yuki eyes her dark brown haired sister wearily. "Hello, Asuka. Do you need something?"

Asuka laughs.  _"Why is it that every time I call you automatically think I need something?"_ Her grin falters under her sisters almost piercing look. _"Okay, okay, but it's a good thing this time! I promise! Ailis, Atemu, Kaisai, Fubuki, and I was to know if you want to go to Florida with us to visit Ivory and Obsidian for Spring Break. We all have time off."_

Yuki considers this for a moment.

" _Please?"_  Asuka begs.  _"I'll bring lots of pocky, onigiri, and crème puffs for you!"_

Yuki breaks under her sister's begging and bribes. "Alright, when are we leaving?" She asks, waiting for one of her sisters outrageous times.

And sure enough:  _"Tonight! I've already got your stuff packed up and Fubuki is one his way to get you right now."_

Yuki blushes at the mention of Fubuki and Asuka grins.  _"Yuki an' Fubuki, sitting in a tree-"_

"If you ever mention that again I will kill you."

Asuka gulps.  _"Okay! No more mentioning! My lips are sealed. I'll see you at the airport!"_

The device in Yuki's hand clicks off suddenly and Yuki sighs. "Well, I'd better get going." She says to herself, carefully slipping her grandmother's journal into a plastic case she forgot about and then putting that into her bag. "It's time I follow my grandmother's advice and have some fun." She looks out the window to see a young man pulling up on a Harley. She blushes when he takes off his helmet, revealing his shoulder length wavy black hair that he has up in a ponytail. He's wearing all black, which makes his tan skin look slightly lighter in color than it really is. Hazel eyes peer through the window and meet Yuki's pinkish ones, making the young school teacher blush darker and hurry out of the classroom.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The wheel of life turns, forever going on in an endless circle; a Never Ending Story.


	13. Deleted Scenes

Deleted Scene

"Do you need anything, Yami?" Yugi asks as he gets up from couch.

Bakura snickers. "Yeah, pharaoh. More food? Some more juice? A bib?"

Yugi and Suma both sigh and leave the room, not wanting to get involved in another Yami vs. Bakura and Yume battle. Five minutes later an explosion is heard from withing the living room and when Yugi and Suma check, Bakura and Yume are gone and Yami is happy smirking. When he notices his husband and daughter he smiles.

"Aibou, can I have some pudding?" He asks hopefully.

Yugi and Suma sweatdrop. Yugi nods and disappears into the kitchen while Suma sits down to play cards with her dad.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**The next day**.

Yume, Bakura, and Marik are walking through the park banishing random sticks, stones, and a couple of birds to the Shadow Realm.

"I heard you two got sent to the Shadow Realm by the pharaoh again." Marik comments. "What is that, the fifteenth time this month?"

Yume nods. "Yeah. You missed all the fun, Marik. We found a new door to get out."

Marik sighs. "Holly threatened me with the couch and said not to aggrivate the pharaoh until his kid is born."

Yume and Bakura both wince.

"That sucks." Yume comments.

"Tell me about it." Marik grumbles, sending an entire park bencg to the Shadow Realm. The young couple sitting on it fall to the ground and the three crazy adults laugh almost maniacally.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**Later**.

"Hey, pharaoh! You look horrible today!" Bakura greets.

Yami glares at the three spirits and Marik begins shuffling away from his fellow psychos.

Yugi sighs as he wipes his hands on the blue apron he's wearing. "Guys, please don't annoy Yami today."

Bakura smirks. "Aww, is the little pharaoh all sad today? Poor little pharaoh."

Yami grits his teeth and tries his best to ignore Bakura and Yume. Marik inches further away from them, but doesn't get too far before Yami's short temper snaps and the ex-pharaoh banishes them to the Shadow Realm.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**In the Shadow Realm**.

Marik looks around and curses loudly. "Dammit! Holly's going to kill me! You idiots!" He then proceeds to chase Bakura and Yume around the Shadow Realm while he yells loudly at them.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**That night- Ishtar House.**

Holly crosses her arms over her chest and glares at Marik. She points to the couch. "Couch."

Marik looks sadly at the couch and then at his lovely wife, who stands there looking so tempting in her nightgown. "But Holly, I wasn't taunting the pharaoh! I promise! Bakura and Yume were taunting him and I tried to get away before he lost his temper, but it didn't work!"

Holly doesn't budge.

"You can ask Yugi!" Marik exclaims. "Please, Holly! Don't make me sleep on the couch! I don't like the couch!"

Holly softens at his begging. Marik notices and resorts to his dramatic begging. He collapses to his knees and uses his best puppy-eyes on Holly.

"Please don't make Mariku sleep on couch, Holly-love." He begs.

Holly cracks. "Oh... okay. You know I can't resist you when you do that. It's too adorable."

Marik grins and jumps up and tightly hugs his wife. "I know."


End file.
